The community is reacting to a body camera video that shows an LMPD officer citing a homeless pregnant woman for street camping while she appears to be in labor. In the video from Sept. 27, Lt. Caleb Stewart approaches the woman at an underpass in downtown Louisville. She tells the officer she is in labor. Lt. Stewart calls her an ambulance, but once he walks away and gets into his car, he comments he doesn't believe she is in labor. "I don't believe for one second this lady is going into labor, but I called EMS," he said in the video. The ambulance did arrive, but not before he handed her a citation for unlawful camping. "I'm issuing you a citation for unlawful camping, OK," he said. "You can't camp out or sleep on sidewalks or under these underpasses or bridges. We've warned you about this before, OK."On Friday, Councilwoman Shameka Parrish-Wright, who is also the executive director for VOCAL-KY, criticized how he handled the situation. "I don't care if you've seen her 200 times before," she said. "This right now, you saw her, and you had a choice, and you chose criminalization. And if that woman was sitting there on a mattress in that condition, and your primary goal is to still cite her, that's not the policing we need or deserve."Parrish-Wright also commented on how the officer didn't believe the woman when she said she was in labor. "You have to treat each person on a case-by-case basis," she said. "You have to honor their dignity, their humanity, and you have to respect and listen to what they're saying is going on or that's not compassion, that's not doing what's best for the community." LMPD released a statement this week following public outcry from the video, saying in part, "on two previous occasions, members of The Safe and Healthy Streets Initiative offered the woman resources for shelter which she had declined."They go on to say, "Without the officer's intervention and call for EMS, it is possible the baby would have been born without medical care."Parrish-Wright says the while it was good on the officer to call EMS, he should have listened to the woman."He did the right thing by calling to make sure EMS, but in his video footage, he says, I don't believe that she's in labor. If the least you can do in that kind of position where you've been sworn to protect and serve, the least you can do is listen to the person in front of you," said Parrish-Wright. Mayor Craig Greenberg addressed the video on Friday. "At first glance, I know this looks bad," said Greenberg. "What you don't see are the thousands of hours the dedicated public servants are doing every day on the streets of Louisville to provide services and shelter to individuals in need."Nina Moseley, the Chief Operating Officer of Wayside Christian Mission, also commented on the video."Our goal is for everyone to have a place to be, everyone to have housing," said Moseley. "And we can't work with them unless they come in and actually work with us. So it's, again, it's an extreme reaction to ticket a homeless woman who is in labor, and she's not going to be able to pay the ticket anyway. But I am thankful that she got to the hospital for the care she needed for her and her baby."In July, the Safer Kentucky Act went into effect, which bans street camping. On Thursday, LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey said they've created an illegal camping docket."So much like other crimes, there's a specific court date that is going to be assigned for people that are illegal camping," said Humphrey. "And what that does is it gives consistency in the court system. It also gives the opportunity for resources and support that people in those circumstances need to be present and can be part of solving that problem," said Humphrey. This video surfaced just as the city agreed on a consent decree with the DOJ. But Parrish-Wright says this further breaks people's trust in LMPD. "People are disgusted with what they saw," she said. 비바카지노 Viva has reached out to the woman's public defender to see how she and her baby are doing, but they have not responded.Full LMPD statement:"We take any situation involving vulnerable individuals, including those experiencing a medical emergency, very seriously. No one wants to see a pregnant woman living in such deplorable conditions. On two previous occasions, members of The Safe and Healthy Streets Initiative offered the woman resources for shelter which she had declined. The Safe and Healthy Streets Initiative within the Louisville Metro includes members of the Homeless Services Division, Solid Waste Management, and LMPD. Members of this group respond together to conduct cleanings of encampments, offer services to individuals, and issue citations for violations multiple times each week. Without the officer맥스카지노�s intervention and call for EMS, it is possible the baby would have been born without medical care. We hope she and her baby are able to receive the care and resources they need going forward.We support our officers in using discretion and the information available to them at the time in making decisions. We also understand everyone may not agree with those decisions, but we are committed to being transparent in communicating and explaining processes and policy to the community. LMPD has posted the body-worn camera footage on our YouTube channel in its entirety to include an 18-minute self-narration by the officer following this incident. "