Pregnant Woman, 25, Dies in Car Crash, Doctors Save Her Baby by Performing Emergency C-Section
A 25-year-old pregnant woman died after a car she was a passenger in crashed into a building in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The woman — who was identified by the Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office as Destiny Cortinas — died when the vehicle accelerated from a stopped position, crashed through a gate and into a building on Tuesday, the Corpus Christi Police Department told PEOPLE in a statement.
Cortinas, who was in the passenger seat, suffered "critical injuries" in the collision and was taken into emergency surgery before her death, according to police. Doctors managed to save her baby by performing an emergency cesarian section.
The baby was last listed as being in "stable condition" on Wednesday afternoon, the Corpus Christi Police Department said.
The driver, a 43-year-old woman, appeared to be under the influence of an "unknown substance" when investigators arrived, police said. Both she and a child in the backseat sustained serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver was identified by the baby's father as Cortinas' mother, according to CBS/Telemundo-affiliate KZTV. He also told the outlet that the minor child in the car was Cortinas' brother.
Investigators retrieved a blood sample from the driver and she will be charged with one count of Intoxication Manslaughter and two counts of Injury to a Child, according to the department.
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"Warrants are in the process of being secured," they said in a statement. "The driver is expected to be arrested upon release from the hospital."
While police did not specify the site of the accident, the car allegedly crashed into a wall on the premises of Bay Area Hospital, KZTV reported.
Efforts by PEOPLE to reach Cortinas' family members were unsuccessful.
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"My niece had her baby today but now she won't be there to see her baby grow up the baby is in [NICU] right now please lord let the baby be ok," family member Dollie Stump Ritz wrote on Facebook in the hours following the accident.
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"I'm really not okay," added friend Stephanie Marie. "My heart hangs extra heavy today Rest in paradise Destiny Cortinas we love u baby girl so young & a baby we were all happily waiting for."
