Spears taken in ambulance after custody dispute
CTV.ca News Staff
An intoxicated Britney Spears was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital by ambulance after police spent nearly three hours trying to mediate a custody dispute involving her two young sons.
Footage of the incident shows a conscious and smiling pop princess being taken out of her Beverly Hills home on a gurney late Thursday evening. Hordes of photographers and celebrity reporters lined the street leading into her gated community throughout the ordeal.
Police were called to the pop star's home at 8 p.m. on Thursday following a custody dispute over Spears' two young children Sean Preston, 2, and one-year-old Jayden James.
By about 10:30 p.m., there were six police cars, two ambulances and a fire truck in the gated-community where Spears' house is located.
The 26-year-old turned over her two boys to ex-husband Kevin Federline at 10:50 p.m., confirmed officer Jason Lee, reports The Associated Press.
Lee said Spears was under the influence of an unknown substance at the time, but declined to provide further details. No injuries were reported.
Following the dispute, Spears was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center by police escort for tests to determine if she was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and for a psychological evaluation, CNN reports.
Doctors at the hospital will decide whether to invoke a state medical law that allows a patient to be held for a total of 72 hours in order to conduct a psychological evaluation, a police spokesperson told CNN.
Celebrity website TMZ.com reports Spears' youngest son was also hospitalized. Her father Jaime and Federline were seen entering Cedars-Sinai, the website reports.
Federline, who married Spears in October 2004, was awarded temporary custody of their children after Spears defied court orders. The pop princess has limited visitation rights.
Spears, a tabloid favourite for her increasingly bizarre antics, has been involved in a drawn out and very public custody battle.
On Thursday, Spears appeared in court for a 14-minute deposition in her custody dispute, attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan told reporters.
"The deposition proceeding did go forward today. It was scheduled for 9:45 to 11:45,'' Kaplan said Thursday. "However, it wasn't able to commence until 11:32.''
"You can imagine in 14 minutes there's not a lot of time to develop questions,'' he said.
Kaplan said another deposition will be scheduled for a later date.
Spears was photographed in a number of bizarre incidents last year including an umbrella attack on a car. After shaving her head, Spears spent a month in a rehab facility and was involved in a number of minor traffic accidents including an incident where she ran over a photographer's foot.
With files from The Associated Press
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