A woman in labor was reportedly forced by authorities to wait on the sidewalk until President Obama's motorcade passed by. INSIDE EDITION has the details.
New video is sparking international headlines. Did President Obama's motorcade block a pregnant woman who was apparently in labor, from getting to the hospital?
A bus bench where the woman was forced to ride out her labor sits right next to the massive Cedars Sinai Medical Center. Eyewitnesses say that even though the woman was in labor, she was prevented from walking the few hundred feet to the hospital for more than 30 minutes.
The headline on the Drudge Report reads: "Hollywood Horror: Obama Motorcade Traps Pregnant Woman in Labor."
Bystander Carrie Clifford, who is a standup comic, took video and still shots of the woman and tweeted: "A few people in scrubs are there now. Still no baby. Still no Obama."
INSIDE EDITION' s Jim Moret asked Clifford, "Tell me what you saw."
Clifford said, "The woman was probably in a car on her way to Cedars. She was not walking to the hospital, I don't think. They had stopped the cars, and then I think they got out and walked. And then, they actually moved a homeless person off the bench so she could sit."
A police officer who was interviewed at the scene had this to say: "It looks like the motorcade is coming through about right now, so we'll be able to open it up for traffic and the first thing we'll try to get through will be an ambulance, but I can't guarantee."
INSIDE EDITION asked the LAPD why, if the woman was indeed in labor, cops didn't just escort her across the street past the police lines? In a statement, they said, "She didn't indicate birth was imminent. Officers requested paramedics just in case."
The president's trip to Los Angeles was already causing controversy with Republicans attacking him for attending fundraisers while war wages in the Middle East.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told the press, "My suggested standard would be, whether or not those political activities interfere with the president's constituntional responsibilities as Commander in Chief of the United States of America."
Wednesday night he went to a fundraising event at the Los Angeles mansion of Shonda Rhimes, executive producer of TV's Scandal.
The president did cancel an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live because of concern over how it would look.
Now, the president faces the embarrassment of dealing with a pregnant woman who was not allowed to cross the street.
