April 03--A woman gave birth to a baby boy Thursday in a downtown Los Angeles courthouse, authorities said.
About 11:30 a.m. in the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, a woman who was two days past her due date told a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy that she was having contractions, according to the sheriff's department.
The deputy alerted the fire department, but the woman gave birth nearly 10 minutes later and before paramedics arrived, officials said.
Court staff and deputies shielded the mother with cardboard boxes to provide some privacy in the busy first floor of the courthouse, the Associated Press reported. An AP journalist witnessed the child's birth.
Officials did not say why the woman was at the courthouse.
The newborn boy and mother were taken to the hospital, officials said.
