Britney Spears taken to LA hospital after custody standoff

An ambulance takes Britney Spears from her home in Los Angeles, late Thursday, January 3, 2008. Spears was taken to a Los Angeles hospital early on Friday, after police spent about four hours at her house trying to mediate a custody dispute, according to witnesses.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Britney Spears was taken to a Los Angeles hospital early on Friday, after police spent about four hours at her house trying to mediate a custody dispute, according to witnesses.

The 26-year-old pop singer was escorted from her hilltop home overlooking Beverly Hills in one of three ambulances that was part of a convoy of nine police vehicles and a handful of other cars.

News web site TMZ.com said Spears was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for an evaluation, and made a rude hand gesture to paparazzi as she was brought out of the ambulance on a gurney. One of her two sons was also at the hospital. A spokeswoman for the hospital declined to comment, and an officer at the Los Angeles Police Department had no information.

Spears reportedly refused to turn over her sons Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, to the bodyguard of her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, as planned at 7 p.m. PST on Thursday (0300 GMT Friday). LAPD spokesman Jason Lee said police were called to her house about an hour later to try to resolve the dispute.

Spears, whose professional and private life has spiralled out of control in the last few years, lost primary custody of the boys in October.

A media circus quickly formed outside the security gate to the Summit gated community where Spears lives, with four helicopters buzzing the scene as paparazzi and onlookers waited in the rain for developments.