Pregnant Woman Dies in Car Crash; Baby Boy Saved

A pregnant 24-year-old woman was fatally injured Tuesday morning in a traffic collision in Newport Beach, but rescue and medical personnel saved the life of her baby.

The woman and a 26-year-old male passenger in a Toyota Corolla apparently collided with a Chevrolet Suburban at 28th Street and West Balboa Boulevard, police said.

Steve Fellner, 34, of Newport Beach was the first person on the scene of the 10:43 a.m. accident, said Lt. Steve Blauer, spokesman for Newport Beach’s Fire and Marine Department.

By coincidence, Fellner had just returned home after taking a final exam in his Emergency Medical Technician class at Santa Ana College. When he heard the crash, he ran to the scene.

Grabbing his latex gloves and scissors from his equipment bag, Fellner put his paramedic training to use.

“I flipped over the first person, and he was breathing but unconscious,” he said. “Then I looked over and saw that the lady who was pregnant had severe head injuries. I got in the back seat of the car and kind of held her in an upright position and tried to give her some air.”

He considers it more than chance that led him to help two strangers in need.

“What I did today--the CPR, the airway supply--those were exactly what the skills final was,” Fellner said. “It was unbelievable. Everything was so fresh in my mind about what to do.”

When firefighters arrived, they pulled the two out of the car. A fire captain then placed a stethoscope to the woman’s abdomen, Blauer said. “He was able to hear the fetal heart sounds of the baby. They continued doing CPR on the mom, knowing any type of air was vital to the baby’s existence.”

The woman was rushed to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in cardiac arrest, hospital spokesman Chris Premer said. A team of obstetricians, emergency care doctors and neonatologists performed an emergency caesarean section on the dying woman, Premer said.

The full-term infant, a boy, was in critical condition Tuesday night in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.

The male passenger in the Toyota was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana. His condition was not available Tuesday night.

Police did not release the name of either victim pending notification of their families. They did say that both were from Santa Ana.

The four occupants in the Suburban, driven by Stephen Barnett, 27, of Phoenix, Ariz., suffered only minor injuries. Barnett and two of his passengers were treated at Hoag and released. A third passenger was treated and released at the scene.

Witnesses said the Suburban was traveling west on West Balboa Boulevard when the Toyota entered the intersection southbound from 28th Street. Police said the investigation is continuing. Drugs and alcohol did not appear to be a factor in the collision, authorities said.