UPDATED: Troopers, Nurse Save Unborn Baby After Mother Dies in Car Wreck

January 6, 2015

UPDATE

News agencies are reporting that baby Riley Andrew Williams died a few hours after delivery. “The father was able to hold the baby before he died.”

ORIGINAL STORY

A tragic car accident in Gastonia, South Carolina, ended with a small bit of happy news today — 7 pounds and 5 ounces of happiness, to be precise.

WSOCTV reports that 24-year-old Rebecca Hodge Williams (pictured here) was driving her car when she lost control of the vehicle and crashed into another oncoming car. She was due in two weeks, on January 19.

When a trooper arrived on the scene he saw that Williams didn’t have a pulse, and immediately began performing CPR in hopes of saving the unborn baby. Another officer arrived, as did a nurse who was passing the scene, and the group worked together until Emergency Medical Services arrived.

“God put me in the right place at the right time,” said Kasey Cornwell, the first trooper to arrive and performed CPR on Williams.

The EMS team was able to transport Williams to Gaston Regional Hospital, where the baby was delivered by cesarean section; he was then transported to Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte. The baby’s name is Riley Andrew Williams, and he is still listed in critical condition.

The driver of the other car was an elderly woman who came away with just some scratches and bruises. Unfortunately, because William didn’t survive, it will be difficult for investigators to ever discover why she lost control of the car.

Check out the video report above from reporter Ken Lemon.