Kansas City, Mo. ? A judge will rule within 30 days on whether two Kansas City police officers should be fired for not seeking medical help for a pregnant woman who later miscarried.

Jackson County Circuit Judge William F. Mauer heard testimony from the officers Thursday during an administrative hearing. Officer Melody Spencer testified that she didn’t call an ambulance for Sofia Salva during a February 2006 traffic stop because she thought the woman was lying about her condition and needing medical attention.

“In my training, experience and observations – and I’ve had two close friends who’ve had miscarriages in the past – I expected there to be some kind of outward sign,” Spencer testified. “Knowing what I know now, I would call an ambulance.”

Police Chief James Corwin wants to fire Spencer and the other officer, Kevin Schnell. The city’s Board of Police Commissioners will consider the chief’s recommendation after Mauer makes his findings. The police board is authorized under state law to fire officers.

Spencer and Schnell stopped Salva for a fake temporary car tag and later arrested her on outstanding warrants, most of them for traffic offenses. A police cruiser videotape showed Salva telling the officers she was pregnant and bleeding and repeatedly asking for medical attention.

But the officers ignored her pleas and took her to jail. The next day, Salva miscarried.

Salva, a Sudanese native, was nearly four months pregnant when police stopped her. She filed a wrongful death and personal injury lawsuit against Kansas City police early this year.

The officers remain on unpaid suspension. Corwin has said they violated a department policy that says, “Officers will procure transportation for a sick or injured person when requested or appropriate.”

Spencer has been a Kansas City police officer for four years and Schnell less than two.

Spencer’s lawyer, Luke Harkins, said Friday that the officers “did not knowingly violate the policy on ambulance calls.”

“They didn’t know they were dealing with a sick or injured person,” Harkins told The Associated Press. “They didn’t know they weren’t supposed to exercise any discretion.”

He said the officers would have acted differently had the policy been clearer.

Salva’s attorney, Andrew Protzman, said Friday that he and Salva did not attend Thursday’s administrative hearing because no one told them about it.

He said Salva’s lawsuit is moving forward and that a trial is set for the spring.

“We’re trying to request and obtain information from the Police Department and the officers, and it’s kind of a slow process,” Protzman said. “We’re going through the lawsuit just like any other lawsuit. We’re moving it along as fast as we can and working toward our trial date.”