Marion man arrested after February crash that severely injured pregnant woman

A Marion man was arrested Friday on charges that in February he recklessly crashed his car into another vehicle — not only severely injuring himself and the other driver, but causing her pregnancy to end.

Trenton Eiben, 42, is charged with serious injury by motor vehicle, willful injury causing serious injury and nonconsensual termination of pregnancy, a forcible felony.

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According to a criminal complaint, Eiben on Feb. 26 was driving a tan Pontiac Sunfire close to 90 mph in the center turn lane of First Avenue E in Cedar Rapids. He crashed into a silver Chevrolet Traverse that was traveling west in the 1300 block of First Avenue E near the Wendy’s restaurant.

Eiben and the driver of the Chevy — Merylin Bowden — both were injured and taken to the hospital after being extracted from their vehicles.

Bowden was 18 weeks’ pregnant, and injuries from the crash caused her pregnancy to end prematurely. She had a broken pelvic bone in two spots, broken ribs and several other injuries, the complaint states.

Crash data from Eiben’s car showed he was driving between 84 and 89 mph in the last five seconds before the crash and hadn’t applied the brake. Bowden was driving between 4 and 12 mph in the seconds before the crash, according to the complaint.

Eiben had his initial appearance in court Saturday and was being held in the Linn County Jail on a cash-only $100,000 bail.

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