Pregnant mother loses child, alleged impaired driver ejected from car, following Northern Colorado crash
A pregnant woman in Northern Colorado lost her child Wednesday evening after an alleged impaired driver ran a stop sign, causing the two cars to collide. The crash, which took place at Highway 14 and Weld County Road 15 near Timnath, is now being reviewed for prosecution by the Weld County District Attorney's Office.
According to the Timnath Police Department, Gordon Cobb, 37, was the alleged impaired driver who caused the crash. Police tell CBS News Colorado's Dillon Thomas Cobb was traveling southbound on County Road 15 when he drove through a stop sign. That is when they say he collided with the westbound vehicle driven by the pregnant woman.
Cobb was reportedly ejected from his vehicle as the woman's vehicle veered into oncoming traffic before coming to a stop in a ditch.
Both were rushed to the Medical Center of the Rockies. The woman was taken into surgery where she tragically lost her child.
Cobb was treated and transported to the WCSO jail.
District Attorney Michael Rourke told Thomas his office is now considering pursuing charges which include unlawful vehicular termination of a pregnancy. That law was first created in 2013 and is not commonly used.
"I think the legislature saw that there was an opportunity to make sure offenders against pregnant women are held accountable," Rourke said. "If you are driving drunk, because of either alcohol or drugs and are the proximate cause of the termination of a pregnancy you can be charged and convicted with a class four felony."
Rourke, speaking in generics about the potential charges Cobb faces and not specifically about the case, said it was important for prosecutors to hold suspects accountable for times they cause an expecting mother to lose her child.
"We are going to give this case every measure of our full attention," Rourke said. "It is not a very common charge."
Cobb reportedly bonded out shortly after he was treated at the hospital and then booked into jail.
Rourke said his team has begun the process of reviewing the case so they can determine what charges they will prosecute.
The identity of the victim was not released by Timnath Police or the WCDA's office.
"Pregnant women are differently situated and at higher risk, and need to be recognized in the law as victims in a very special way in their own right," Rourke said.
