Woman charged with killing unborn child

By Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Once she is released from the hospital, a 21-year-old woman will head to jail for allegedly leading police on a high-speed chase that ended in several crashes and the death of her unborn child.

Jessica Bruce has been charged with feticide and more charges are pending, Douglasville police Capt. D.S. Shaw told the AJC Friday afternoon.

Bruce remains in stable condition at Grady Memorial Hospital, where she underwent an emergency C-section Wednesday night after being cut out of her wrecked Pontiac. The child did not survive, said Douglas County Coroner Randy Daniel.

The fetus was transported to the GBI crime lab where an autopsy on Thursday determined the child died from injuries sustained in the crash, Daniel said. The woman was about six to seven months pregnant, he said.

The chase began on I-20 in Douglasville when police spotted a Pontiac going 86 mph in a 65 mph zone, Shaw said. An officer tried to stop Bruce, who exited onto Chapel Hill Road, then turned right onto Douglas Boulevard.

"When the officer gave chase, the violator refused to stop," Shaw said. "She picked up her speed."

After weaving in and out of traffic, the car hit the curb, spun into a car, crossed into oncoming traffic, hit a vehicle waiting at a stoplight and then got T-boned, police said.

"Her car just came apart," witness Tracey Harris told WSB. "The whole tail-end kind of came off."

The other motorists suffered only minor injuries, police said.

The woman was trapped in the vehicle and had to be extricated, Shaw said.

Police have not yet said what caused the woman to flee and have not released her address. The investigation into the incident continues.