Unborn Baby Is Killed as Car and Train Collide

A 27-year-old woman in labor and a man driving her to the hospital collided with a freight train early Friday morning as they sped through a railroad crossing in Compton, killing the unborn baby and critically injuring the woman, police said.

The driver, Angel Valle Cuba, 32, of Buena Park, was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter. He told police that his passenger, Catalina Dominguez, was his wife and that he was rushing her to a hospital in Long Beach because she was in labor.

Dominguez, who suffered severe head injuries in the crash, was in critical condition at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, officials there said. Her unborn baby girl was pronounced dead at 5:30 a.m. Friday.

Police said Cuba was speeding at about 40 m.p.h. eastbound on Rosecrans Avenue and did not stop at the Alameda railroad crossing, despite the train bells and flashing red lights, signaling an oncoming train.

“We know the signals were activated,” said Sgt. Tom Eskridge of the Compton Police Department. “What we don’t know is whether (Cuba) didn’t see the train or if he thought he could beat it.”

The train, traveling at about 10 m.p.h., hit Cuba’s 1977 Chevrolet Impala on the passenger side, pushing it 250 feet before stopping.

Eskridge said there have not been many accidents at the intersection and that Cuba appeared to be drunk at the time of the incident.

“He had the symptoms: watery, bloodshot eyes and alcohol on his breath,” Eskridge said.

Cuba was being held at Compton jail in lieu of $7,500 bail, police said.