Mourning in N.Y. as baby dies after hit-run crash
NEW YORK — A close-knit ultra- Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn was plunged into a new round of mourning Monday by the death of a baby who was delivered by cesarean section after his parents were killed in a grisly hit-and-run crash a day earlier.
Police hunted for the suspected driver, identified as Julio Acevedo, saying he was barreling down a residential street in a BMW at 60 mph, or twice the speed limit, early Sunday when he collided with a car hired to take the couple to the hospital.
The death of the newborn on Monday piled tragedy upon tragedy and compounded the community’s grief.
The baby was buried near the fresh graves of his parents, Nachman and Raizy Glauber, both 21.
About 1,000 community members turned out a day earlier for the funeral of the couple, who wed last year in a marriage arranged through a matchmaker.
“The mood in the neighborhood is very heavy,” said Oscar Sabel, a retired printer. “We all hoped the baby would survive.”
Shortly after midnight Sunday, Raizy Glauber, who was seven months’ pregnant, wasn’t feeling well, so the couple decided to go to the hospital, said Sara Glauber, Nachman Glauber’s cousin. They called a car service.
Police said the crash with the BMW reduced the cab to a crumpled heap, and Raizy Glauber was thrown from the wreck. The engine ended up in the back seat. The cab driver was not seriously hurt.
Police said the driver of the BMW ran away.
The baby weighed only about 4 pounds when he was delivered. He died of extreme prematurity, the city medical examiner’s office said.
Acevedo, 44, was arrested last month on a charge of driving while under the influence, and the case is pending. He served about a decade in prison in the 1990s for manslaughter.
How he came to possess the BMW is also under investigation. The registered owner, Takia Walker, was arrested on insurance fraud charges Sunday in a scam involving the car, police said.
A person familiar with the investigation said Walker bought the car legally, or allowed her identification to be used in the purchase, then gave the vehicle to a middleman who either lent or rented it out to the driver.