A pregnant woman was trapped in her car after being hit from behind in Midtown Anchorage by an SUV with a drunk driver, according to Anchorage police. The woman delivered her baby on Saturday morning, a month early.
Felicia Ambrosio of Big Lake was in the far right lane westbound on 36th Avenue waiting for the light to change at C Street, Lt. Dave Parker, a police spokesman, said.
Shara Paulsberg, 34, of Anchorage, was driving a Ford Explorer that slammed into the rear of Ambrosio's Ford Taurus, Parker said. The SUV crushed the rear of the Taurus and pushed it across C Street into the Holiday station parking lot, where the Taurus ran into rocks and was further damaged, he said.
Paulsberg and her passenger, Brian Hayles, ran away without calling police about the crash, Parker said. Others alerted police at 1:51 a.m. Witnesses told police the direction the pair went, and Paulsberg was in custody by about 2 a.m., Parker said.
A breath test later showed that Paulsberg's blood alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit for driving, the police spokesman said. She told police she had been drinking at Asia Garden. She said Hayles was her fiance.
Meanwhile, Ambrosio was trapped in her Taurus and had to be extracted, Parker said. She was eight months pregnant and was rushed to a hospital, he said. Her baby was in distress, so the child was delivered by C-section immediately. The baby is in stable condition in a neonatal intensive care unit, Parker said. He didn't know Ambrosio's condition or whether she was injured in the crash.
Paulsberg was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, two counts of first-degree assault, third-degree assault and drunken driving, Parker said.
Paulsberg has previous convictions for drunken driving, driving without a license, multiple assaults, and child abuse, court records show. Earlier this year, she pleaded guilty to felony assault.
Reach Lisa Demer at ldemer@adn.com or 257-4390.
By LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News