Law Enforcement Tackles Protester Who Approached Biden Motorcade In LA

LOS ANGELES — Law enforcement officers in Los Angeles sprang into action Wednesday when an abortion-rights protester with a megaphone walked toward President Joe Biden's motorcade as it approached the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Biden was in Los Angeles for the Summit of the Americas, where he pushed for regional progress in addressing economic development, climate change and migration.

Key leaders weren't at the gathering.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and other leaders stayed away after the United States excluded Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua — all countries that send large numbers of migrants to the U.S. and neighboring countries — because they are led by authoritarians.

The exclusion drew protesters to the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street, KTVU-TV reported. The demonstrators waved flags and help up signs protesting their exclusion, as well as other policies.

At one point, the TV station's cameras recorded a woman with a megaphone walk into the street as Biden's motorcade drove past. The video shows the woman yell and shout at the motorcade before a law enforcement officer in a police vest grabs her, forcibly ushers her over to the side of the road, and slams her to the ground as shocked passerby yell at the officer to "get off her!"

A struggle ensues on the ground as the officer apprehends the woman, and she rips off his hat and sunglasses. The officer slaps her face, and the woman kicks her feet at the officer. At one point, as the officer shouts at her to "stop resisting," the officer slams her onto the pavement again and holds her down as another officer handcuffs her. As she's being detained, the woman shouts: "An abortion ban will not stop abortions! Only safe ones!"

The protest finished around 5:30 p.m. without further incident, KTVU reported. The summit continues through Friday.