A Kentucky woman received a citation for unlawful camping from law enforcement despite being pregnant and actively going into labor while being detained, officials say.
The incident occurred in September of this year. The head of Louisville Metro Police Department's Downtown Area Patrol, Lt Caleb Stewart, can be seen walking up to the visibly pregnant woman who had been experiencing homelessness in body cam footage from police officers involved in the incident obtained by Kentucky Public Radio.
As Stewart approached, the woman can be heard saying "I might be going into labor, is that OK?"
"I'm leaking out," she continued.
Stewart called an ambulance for the woman after she told him her husband was calling one for her already. Stewart can then be heard telling her to stop as she walks out into the street, awaiting the vehicle.
"Am I being detained?" she asked.
"Yes, you're being detained," he replied "You're being detained because you're unlawfully camping."
Under Kentucky's new state law, the Safer Kentucky Act, sleeping or setting up camp on sidewalks or other public property has been outlawed. The act has been heavily opposed by advocates for those experiencing homelessness.
The woman's mattress was confiscated by law enforcement and placed into a garbage truck as Stewart returned to his vehicle to write her a citation.
"So I don't for a second believe that this woman is going into labor," Stewart can be heard saying in the footage.
The woman gave birth later that day according to public defender Ryan Dischinger who is representing her. She and her family are now in a homeless shelter.
"The reality for her, and for anyone who's homeless in Kentucky, is that they're constantly and unavoidably breaking this law," Dischinger told Kentucky Public Radio. "What she needed was help and compassion and instead she was met with violence."
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