PHOENIX — A young woman and her newborn baby died following a crash in north Phoenix late Saturday night, according to Phoenix police.
Officers responded around 11:30 p.m. to the area of Loop 101 and 19th Avenue for reports of a crash.
When officers arrived, they found a pregnant female passenger with critical injuries, Phoenix police said. The Phoenix Fire Department took her to a nearby hospital, where medical staff delivered the baby.
According to police, both the mother, identified as 19-year-old Leila Kiani Potts, and her child were later pronounced dead.
The adult male driver of the same vehicle was also taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Leila Potts's father, David Potts, described her as the kind of person who always wore a genuine smile, uplifting others. He said she was excited to be a mother to her baby boy, Vincent, due this summer.
"There wasn't anywhere that she went that people didn't just leave with a smile, because she was just such an awesome person,” David Potts said. “There's nothing in this entire world she was more excited about than being a mother.”
Preliminary information indicates the driver of the vehicle with Leila Potts failed to stop for a red light and collided with the second vehicle, which was traveling eastbound on Beardsley Road, according to police.
Family confirmed the driver was Leila Potts’s boyfriend and father of their unborn child.
"We’re all completely devastated. I know her boyfriend is destroyed; he lost his son and his girlfriend, but there have to be consequences,” David Potts said. “People told him to drive better.”
Phoenix police did not want to confirm the boyfriend’s name or any recommended charges as of Monday afternoon but said the investigation remains ongoing.
Police said the driver of the second vehicle remained at the scene and was not injured. Investigators say they found no signs of impairment.
The family is accepting donations online for funeral costs.
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