Day after crash victims' funeral, their newborn dies

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 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 m.p.h., twice the speed limit, Sunday morning when he collided with a car hired to take the couple to the hospital.

The death of the newborn Monday compounded the community's grief. The baby was buried near the fresh graves of his parents, Nachman and Raizy Glauber, both 21, a community spokesman said. About a thousand community members turned out for the couple's funeral a day earlier.

"The mood in the neighborhood is very heavy," said Oscar Sabel, who lives near the accident scene. "We all hoped the baby would survive."

The Glaubers married last year and were living in the Williamsburg neighborhood. They were members of the Satmar Hasidic sect, whose men dress in dark coats and hats, wear long beards like their Eastern European ancestors, and have limited dealings with the outside world. Raizy Glauber grew up in a prominent rabbinical family. Her husband was studying at a rabbinical college; his family founded a line of clothing for Orthodox Jews.

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 livery cab, a hired car that is arranged via telephone.

Police said the collision reduced the cab to a crumpled heap, and Raizy Glauber was thrown from the wreck.

The baby weighed about 4 pounds when he was delivered, neighbors and friends said. 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 eight years in prison in the 1990s for manslaughter.