Police Pursue Suspect in Hit-Run Crash That Killed Couple, Baby

The one-day-old baby boy delivered by C-section after his parents were killed by a hit-and-run driver in Brooklyn died Monday, and police have narrowed their search for the driver.

Doctors performed an emergency C-section to deliver the premature infant after a BMW sedan slammed into the cab carrying expectant parents Nachman and Raizy Glauber, who were on their way to the hospital because the mother-to-be felt ill. The boy had been in intensive care since the delivery.

Police are still looking for the driver who struck the cab at the intersection of Wilson Street and Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, police said. Police said they are looking for Julio Acevedo, a 44-year-old Brooklyn man who served time in prison for a 1987 shooting death.

Sources say the BMW was speeding at more than 60 mph when it hit the cab.

Authorities have said a male driver and another passenger in the BMW fled the scene of the accident on foot.

Raizy Glauber was thrown from the car and her body landed under a parked tractor-trailer, witnesses said. Nachman Glauber was pinned in the car, and emergency workers had to cut off the roof to get him out, witnesses told police.

Nachman Glauber was pronounced dead at Beth Israel Hospital, while his wife died at Bellevue, police said. The couple's son was pronounced dead a day later, his death ruled extreme prematureness due to maternal blunt force injuries.

Hours after the infant's death, Joseph Silverstein, Raizy Glauber's older brother, told NBC 4 New York in the hallway of the couple's building that "This is God's will." Silverstein said he and other family members were able to see the baby before he passed away, but he declined to elaborate.

The driver of the livery cab survived the crash. He was taken to Beth Israel Hospital in stable condition, police said.

Police say Takia Walker, 29, of the Bronx, owned the BMW involved in the fatal crash but was not behind the wheel. She was arrested early Monday on insurance fraud charges, accused of allowing a third party who was not on her vehicle insurance policy to drive her car. Authorities are searching for the driver. 

On Saturday, Raizy Glauber "was not feeling well, so they decided to go" to the hospital, said Sara Glauber, Nachman Glauber's cousin.

Hundreds gathered in Williamsburg Sunday afternoon at a funeral for the Glaubers, both Orthodox Jews. 

The Glaubers were married about a year and had begun a life together in Williamsburg, where Raizy Glauber grew up in a prominent rabbinical family, Sara Glauber said.

Raised north of New York City in Monsey, N.Y., and part of a family that founded a line of clothing line, Nachman Glauber was studying at a rabbinical college nearby, said his cousin.

"You don't meet anyone better than him," she said. "He was always doing favors for everyone."

Sara Glauber also said her cousin and his bride had a unique connection, and that it was appropriate they died together. "If one had to go, the other had to go too because they really were one soul," she said.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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