Pregnant Mom Charged With Feticide in Drunk Driving Crash

May 13, 2010— -- A pregnant Georgia woman, who led police on a high speed chase, will likely be charged in the death of the 24-week-old baby she was carrying.

Police said Jessica Bruce, 21, refused to stop her car Wednesday night when they tried to pull her over for speeding. Bruce fled, struck a car, spun into oncoming traffic and was hit by another car, totaling her vehicle and killing the fetus, authorities said.

Investigators said Bruce, who was clocked by radar driving 85 mph in a 65 mph zone in a suburban neighborhood outside Atlanta, needed to be cut from the wreckage of her car and taken to the hospital. The woman in the first car she struck was also taken to the hospital.

"Sounded like a big explosion. [I saw] one car just kind of go airborne and slam into the back of the other one," witness Tracey Harris told ABC News affiliate WSB-TV. "Her car just came apart… The whole tail-end kind of it came off. Her stuff was all over the street."

Authorities are still awaiting the results of an autopsy performed on the fetus and a toxicology test given to Bruce. They believe Bruce was drunk at the time.

The results of those tests will determine how prosecutors proceed. Based on preliminary information, it is likely Bruce will be charged with "feticide by vehicle," according to Douglas County District Attorney David McDade.

"The preliminary investigation leads us to believe she was under the influence of alcohol," McDade told ABCNews.com. "She was fleeing police at a high rate of speed and driving dangerously."

The maximum penalty in Georgia for vehicular feticide carries a 15-year prison sentence.

McDade said investigators are awaiting the autopsy to determine whether the fetus died as a result of the collision.