Pregnant woman loses baby after fight

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

The woman had been listed in critical condition.

YOUNGSTOWN — A fight between two women, one five months pregnant, landed one woman in the county jail and may have caused the second woman to lose her unborn child.

Reports say the fight was over a man both women had been dating.

Regina Cansler, 19, of Kensington Avenue, appeared for arraignment Tuesday on felonious assault before Judge Elizabeth Kobly in Youngstown Municipal Court. She is being held in the Mahoning County jail on a $10,000 bond.

Cansler is due back in the court next Wednesday.

Police were called to the St. Elizabeth Health Center emergency room just after midnight Sunday in reference to a pregnant woman who had been stabbed. When officers arrived at the hospital, two witnesses to the fight laid out the details of the altercation.

According to the women, the 21-year-old pregnant woman was coming out of a store at the corner of Wick Avenue and Bissel Street when Cansler approached her, asking if she was ready to fight. The women told police Cansler and the pregnant woman do not get along because the pregnant woman’s boyfriend had been sleeping with Cansler.

According to police reports, the two woman started fighting in the parking lot near the convenience store. Sometime during the altercation Cansler was knocked to the ground and began swinging her arms at the pregnant woman.

The witnesses said the pregnant woman, after the fight had been broken up, noticed a large amount of blood on her shirt and that she had been bleeding heavily from the stomach area.

The pregnant woman was listed in critical condition and could not speak with officers. Late Monday evening, doctors determined the unborn child had no heart activity.

A nurse at the hospital told police that “in all probability, the abdominal trauma caused the placental abruption,” the police report said.

jgoodwin@vindy.com