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Heartbreak In NYC: Parents Die In Crash; Baby Is Delivered But Later Dies

Mourners lined the street Sunday outside a synagogue in Brooklyn where funeral services were held for Raizy and Nathan Glauber.
Verena Dobnik
/
AP
Mourners lined the street Sunday outside a synagogue in Brooklyn where funeral services were held for Raizy and Nathan Glauber.

A young couple head to a hospital because the wife, who is about seven months pregnant, isn't feeling well. Then, tragedy strikes.

It's a heartbreaking story that is making headlines in New York City.

Nachman and Raizy Glauber, both 21, died early Sunday in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn when the cab they were in was struck by a BMW. Doctors were able to perform a cesarean section and deliver the couple's baby, a boy. As Monday dawned, the baby was reported to be in serious condition. But around 8 a.m. ET, CBS New York and then other local news outlets reported being told that the infant was dead. According to WABC, "Isaac Abraham, a community leader in Brooklyn, says the child of a couple killed in a car crash Sunday has died. Abraham, a neighbor of the dead couple, says the infant succumbed to his injuries overnight at Bellevue Hospital."

Now, as The Associated Press says, police are searching for the driver of the BMW and another person who was reportedly in that vehicle. They apparently fled the scene.

New York's Daily News has details about the crash:

"The impact from the T-bone collision sent the livery cab spinning onto the median and ejected Raizel Glauber into the street, her pregnant body coming to rest under a parked tractor trailer.

"First responders had to cut the roof off the Toyota Camry to extricate her husband and the livery driver. ...

"It was unclear if the doomed couple's cabbie braked for the stop sign at the intersection. The BMW driver had no stop sign on Kent Ave., a main thoroughfare."

The cab driver was treated for his injuries and later released from a local hospital.

According to The New York Times, one of the first people to arrive after the crash was 24-year-old Yisroel Altma. The Times writes that:

"Mr. Altman said another witness had told him that the driver of the BMW walked away from his wrecked car, then doubled back for a female companion in the passenger seat. The BMW is registered to a woman in the Bronx who was not in the car when it crashed, the police said.

"The witness told Mr. Altman that he tried to ask the BMW driver if he was all right, but that he and the woman ignored the question and kept walking."

WABC in New York reports that "detectives believe they know the driver's name, and are showing his photo to possible witnesses. Meanwhile, the woman who had co-signed the BMW's lease is charged with insurance fraud."

The Glaubers, both Orthodox Jews, were mourned at funerals later in the day on Sunday. The AP notes that "Jewish law calls for burial of the dead as soon as possible."

Update at 11 a.m. ET. "God Is Punishing Me":

At the funeral Sunday for Raizy Glauber, her father said that "God is punishing me for my sins by taking away my daughter," New York's Daily News reports. With the baby's death, the Daily News adds, "the horror of a young Brooklyn couple killed in a hit-and-run accident became a triple tragedy."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
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