Orthodox Jewish Couple Killed in Car Crash on Way to Hospital To Deliver Baby
A pregnant Orthodox Jewish woman and her husband were both killed in a hit-and-run car crash early Sunday as they drove from their Brooklyn home to the hospital to deliver their first child — but the baby reportedly survived.
Tragic Couple: Nathan and Raizy Glauber, shown here on their wedding day, were killed by a hit and run driver as they rode to the hospital to deliver their first baby.
Nachman and Raizy Glauber, both 21 years old, of Williamsburg were headed to a hospital in Manhattan when the livery cab they were riding in slammed into a truck and another car, just after midnight on Kent Ave. in Brooklyn, according to the Vos Iz Neias web site.
UPDATE: Tragedy multiplied as ‘miracle’ baby who initially survived car crash dies.
A man driving a BMW fled the scene on foot, according to the New York Post.
The Daily News said police were still hunting for the driver of the hit-and-run car and a passenger.
Nachman Glauber was pronounced dead at Beth Israel Hospital, while his wife died at Bellevue Hospital, police told the Post.
The couple’s newly orphaned son was born at the scene and was taken to a hospital in serious condition, community activist Isaac Abraham told Vos Iz Neias.
The newborn boy was expected to survive, the News said.
The baby boy, reported by police to be in serious condition, was expected to be named after his father, friends told the Daily News.
“There’s a big family on both sides,” family friend Sarah Gluck told the News. “The baby’s going to get a lot of love.”
“God only takes the good people,” fellow rabbinic student Moshe Meisels, 21, told the paper. “I couldn’t sleep the whole night knowing it was Nachman.”
Nachman Glauber’s family founded G & G Clothing, a popular clothing line among Orthodox Jews. His wife comes from a prominent rabbinical family in the Satmar Hasidic sect, the New York Post reported.
“It’s a terrible, terrible tragedy. They were going for their first child. There are no words. I don’t even know what to say,” said community leader Rabbi Bernard Freilich.
Mourners overflowed a funeral for the couple held in Hebrew at a Williamsburg synagogue while about 200 more assembled in the street. Pallbearers carried a pair of caskets draped in black velvet from the synagogue to a pair of awaiting vehicles that drove them away.
At least two other people were injured, police said. The crash was still under investigation early today, and police were not sure of its cause.
Abraham called the couple’s death “a tragedy beyond (belief) just coming off a joyous holiday as Purim.” A funeral was expected Sunday afternoon in Williamsburg.
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