By Francesca Chambers
Police prevented a pregnant
woman in labor from crossing the street to get to a nearby hospital yesterday
in L.A. because President Barack Obama's motorcade was on the way.
A Twitter user documented the
unidentified woman sitting on a bus bench for roughly half an hour, waiting for
the president and his entourage to pass through, as she was attended to by
another woman in scrubs.
KNBC reporter Robert Kovacik
rushed to a scene.
Kovacik talked to a police
officer who told him that the LAPD would allow the woman to go to the hospital
'as soon as we can.'
'It looks like the motorcade is
coming through right about now, so we’ll be able to open it up for traffic,' he
said. 'The first thing we’ll try to get through will be an ambulance.'
An LAPD spokesman confirmed the
story to MailOnline on Thursday but said the police did not know the woman was
in labor when she first asked to cross the street.
'She didn't tell them she was
in labor and gave no indication of urgency,' he said.
'She waited a while before her
husband asked how much longer it would be before they could cross. He still did
not say she was in labor, just that she needed to go to the hospital.
'Officers requested an
ambulance, but a nurse happened to be there so she chatted to her. In the
meantime the motorcade passed and she was able to make it over the road to the
hospital before the ambulance even arrived.
The police department spokesman
said the woman later gave birth from the comfort of the hospital.'She had her
baby and did not give birth on the street or anything like that.'
