She told a police officer she was in labor. The Louisville Metro Police Department lieutenant cited her for unlawful camping as the ambulance arrived. She had a baby later that day.
  • u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    142·
    16 hours ago

    Her water had broken, she said. “I’m leaking out,” she told him. She grabbed a blanket and a few personal effects as a bright orange city dump truck pulled up to remove the makeshift bed.

    “Am I being detained?” she asked.
    “Yes, you’re being detained,” he shouted. “You’re being detained because you’re unlawfully camping.”

    Stewart walked back to his car to write the citation as city workers finished loading the mattress into the garbage truck.
    Once in the police vehicle, Stewart narrated to himself as his body camera recorded his comments.
    “So I don’t for a second believe that this woman is going into labor,” he said.

    He returned to find the woman sitting on the ground, with legs askew and labored breathing, waiting for the ambulance. Stewart hands her a citation, and she balls it up and tosses it aside as the ambulance arrives to take her to the hospital.

    This sounds like I am reading some dystopian book, not news.

    • rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works
      89·
      15 hours ago

      Did you catch the part about this particular cop being the “top earner” for homeless camping tickets?

      Small win for her, at least she balled up the fucking citation and threw it on the ground. What a prick.

      • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
        15·
        12 hours ago

        A friend who quit law enforcement (he was a sheriff’s deputy, not police) explained that while the sheriff’s office is publicly funded, most police agencies are funded by the general fund of a city, which is where the revenue of their tickets go, so it invariably evolves into rent seeking behavior as law enforcement.