Spears hospitalized after police stand-off, loses custody (Roundup)

Jan 5, 2008, 9:41 GMT

A file picture dated 28 May 2005 of US pop singer Britney Spears performing in Oberhausen, Germany. Los Angeles Police Department said police were called to Spears\' home late 03 January 2008 to help solve a custody dispute with her ex-husband Kevin Federline. Late night aerial images of the compound showed police and ambulance vehicles outside her house. EPA/ACHIM SCHEIDEMANN

Los Angeles - A Los Angeles family court on Friday suspended troubled pop star Britney Spears' visitation rights to her two children after she was hospitalized for physical and psychological evaluation earlier in the day following a tense, three-hour stand-off with police in her luxury Hollywood home.

The bizarre episode and its aftermath marks a new low in the rapidly deteriorating saga surrounding Spears since she split with ex-husband Kevin Federline about a year ago.

It was triggered Thursday night when Spears refused to follow court orders and hand over her children, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, to the custody of her ex-husband Kevin Federline.

The court-appointed monitor 'had already put (Sean) Preston in the car when Britney locked herself in a room with Jayden,' a source close to Spears told People Magazine.

Police were called to enforce the custody handoff, and after a tense, three-hour standoff inside the house, paramedics carried Spears to an ambulance on a stretcher.

Spears, 26, was at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center on a '5150 hold' - meaning she was considered a danger to herself and others, the magazine reported. As a precautionary measure, Jayden was also transported by ambulance to Cedars-Sinai, where he was checked by doctors and released into the care of his father.

People Magazine said Spears was listed as a 'special needs' patient and had been placed under a minimum 72-hour lockdown.

Later Friday, lawyers for the feuding couple appeared before Court Commissioner Scott Gordon for a hearing on Spears' remaining custody rights because of safety concerns for the children.

Gordon ordered Spear's visitation rights 'suspended pending further order of the Court.' The order is in effect until January 14.

On Thursday, the law firm representing Spears in the custody battle had quit, saying the pop star was 'impossible' to work with.

The legal resignation came after Spears missed another court-ordered deposition with Federline's lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, to undergo cross-examination about her parenting abilities. Last month she called in sick to a similar meeting just hours after she was caught on camera at a night club.