LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Louisville Metro Police officer violated the Constitution when he cited a homeless woman for illegal camping while she was in labor, an attorney for the woman argued in a recently filed court motion asking for a dismissal. 

The woman was cited for unlawful camping while sitting on a mattress under an overpass as her husband went to call for an ambulance on Sept. 27 by Lt. Caleb Stewart, who has been the chief enforcer of the controversial state law for LMPD since it went into effect in July.

"This court should dismiss the case against (the woman) and rule that citing an unhoused person simply because they needed to sit down during early labor is cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment," defense attorney Ryan Dischinger wrote in a motion to dismiss on Friday. 

As Stewart exits his cruiser and walks toward the woman, who did not want to be identified, she tells him "I'm waiting for an ambulance. I might be going into labor. Is that OK?" according to body camera footage made available by the city. 

She told him her husband had gone to call for an ambulance.

Stewart, however, did not believe that she was in labor and told her she was being detained, though he did call an ambulance.

An RV the couple had been staying in had been impounded and the couple had been moving around nightly to try and avoid being homeless, the motion to dismiss claims.

Dischinger argues the law is too vague and leaves too much interpretation up to law enforcement, providing little "if any guidance, as to what separates innocent behavior from criminal behavior."

The law allows Stewart and other police to see anyone sitting in public and assume their intent — resulting in arbitrary and unpredictable enforcement action, according to Dischinger.

For example, he wrote, what if a person went to Waterfront Park to sit and read a book and then fell asleep? That person would be in violation of the illegal camping law as written "and yet, it is somewhat unthinkable that the Louisville Metro Police Department would cite someone for the behavior described above," according to the motion.

"Then again, until September 27, 2024, it was unthinkable that they would cite a woman in active labor for a violation of this statute," he said, deeming LMPD’s treatment of the woman "egregious" but "not unsurprising."

GOP Rep. Jason Nemes of Middletown, who cosponsored the Safer Kentucky Act, said he has not seen the new motion but, "I am very confident that the law is constitutional."

Asked Friday by WDRB News about the arrest, Police Chief Paul Humphrey defended police, pointing out that they called an ambulance and if there hadn’t been a history between the woman and Stewart, he likely wouldn’t have cited her.

"She got medical attention for both her and her baby because it was called for by the police and if he had believed that she was legitimately in labor, which you even hear him say it in the video, that she wasn’t using that as an excuse to get out of an enforcement action after she had already been warned many times and he had had previous interactions with her, he wouldn’t have written her that ticket," Humphrey said. "I don’t think any of us would have. There’s no problem in recognizing that."

Stewart claimed the woman has "pulled this kind of stuff before," and that as soon as she's "observed violating some kind of a law that she'll make up some outlandish story about what's going on."

Stewart is head of Louisville Metro Police Department’s Downtown Area Patrol.

The Safer Kentucky Act took effect earlier this year making street camping illegal. It also makes repeat camping in public areas, such as streets or beneath overpasses, a misdemeanor.

But Dischinger said the woman sat down "because her water broke a month before she was due to give birth. There is no reason to believe that a pregnant woman in labor under an overpass has any intent to sleep or camp in that area. … (Her) actual intent was to wait for the father of her child to find help."

Dischinger claims the law is unconstitutional both state and nationally in several ways, including treating those without a home different than the rest of the population and imposing fines or jail time on a person who has no money.

"This court has the opportunity to provide greater protection to the people of Louisville, Kentucky, by ruling that the status of being unhoused is not unlawful," according to the motion. 

The woman gave birth the same day.

The case is scheduled to be back in Jefferson District Court on Jan. 29.

After the pregnant woman is taken away in the ambulance, Stewart is back in his vehicle and again begins describing the reason for the citation, according to the body cam video. 

"She's on the mattress, she's got a blanket, pillow, underneath the interstate bridge, so clearly a violation," he said. He added that she was "utilizing camping paraphernalia" and didn't have a "designated camping or sleeping area ... didn't have authority to be doing this here and she's been warned before. She's probably been warned multiple times, I know she's officially been warned at least once."

In a previous interview with WDRB, Stewart said officers check for four things if someone is in violation: camping in a prohibited location, entering an area with intent to sleep or camp, the area could not be designated camping area and person lacks authorization, the person has been warned before.

"Some people may think it's more compassionate to provide somebody a tent and food out here and hand it out, I think one way of looking at that is it's encouraging people's behavior to continue living out here," Stewart said. "I think it's important we create that bit of friction of people to maybe help inspire them to make other decisions."

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