Woman holding small child jumps onto freeway divider after running out of Kapiolani Medical Center

Traffic was partially blocked on the H-1 freeway and on Bingham Street Monday afternoon after a woman ran out of Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children with her 2-year-old child and jumped up on the divider between the two roadways.

The woman, who held her child throughout the half-hour episode, apparently avoided the grasp of a patient who tried to grab her and instead fell into the arms of a policeman, witnesses said.

The child was safely taken into custody and the woman was taken for a mental health evaluation, said Honolulu police officer John Cambra.

There were no injuries in the incident that started about 12:30 p.m.

Cambra said the woman apparently was taking her child for treatment in the hospital’s emergency room.

“Something happened in the ER and she ran out with her baby and jumped on the divider,” he said.

Authorities stopped traffic in the right lane of the east-bound H1 and on Bingham Street, the road that runs parallel to the freeway.

Juan Camacho, a hospital employee, said the woman was keeping people at bay and yelling at everyone to keep their hands up.

Meanwhile, a couple of hospital visitors scaled the divider and one of them tried to grab her from the freeway side, he said. The man missed, he said, but she jumped onto Bingham, where a policeman took her into custody.