• Homicide charges filed in connection with Brooklyn hit-and-run tragedy

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    By Edith Honan, Reuters

    NEW YORK - A New York City man who allegedly fled a hit-and-run car crash that killed a young Orthodox Jewish family appeared before a Brooklyn judge on Thursday night to hear the charges that could put him in prison for life.


    Julio Acevedo, 44, of Brooklyn, faces charges of criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident, according to prosecutors. He is also being accused of reckless driving, assault and speeding.

    If convicted, Acevedo faces 25 years to life in prison because of his prior convictions, prosecutor Gayle Dampf said. He is being held without bail.

    The victims, Raizy and Nachman Glauber, 21, were members of an Orthodox Jewish enclave in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn. They were expecting their first child.

    They were on the way to the hospital when their taxi was hit broadside by a gray BMW sedan, police said. The BMW driver fled the scene on foot.

    The Glauber baby was delivered on Sunday by Cesarean section at Bellevue Hospital, where the mother had been pronounced dead on arrival, police said. The boy died early on Monday.

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    Matt Rourke / AP

    Julio Acevedo is escorted to a hearing at the Lehigh County Courthouse on Thursday in Allentown, Pa.

    Family friends said the child's birth had been a ray of hope that was extinguished when the baby died of his injuries. They said Raizy Glauber was about six months pregnant and wanted to go to the hospital because she was not feeling well.

    Acevedo, who has a lengthy criminal record, surrendered on Wednesday to New York City detectives in the parking lot of a convenience store in Bethlehem, Pa.

    The meeting between the suspect and police had been arranged with the help of one of Acevedo's friends, New York City Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said.

    Witnesses to the Sunday morning crash said the BMW had been speeding, police said. The taxi was at a stop sign when the accident occurred, police said.

    Before his surrender, Acevedo spoke by telephone to the New York Daily News. An article published on Tuesday said Acevedo had claimed he was fleeing gunshots when the accident occurred and that he fled the scene of the accident because he was afraid of being shot.

    This story was originally published on Fri Mar 8, 2013 3:57 AM EST

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Cops hunt ex-con over Brooklyn crash that killed young couple, baby

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    By Katherine Creag and Shimon Prokupecz, NBC New York

    NEW YORK -- 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 said the BMW was speeding at more than 60 mph when it hit the cab.

    Authorities have said a male driver and a 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.

    'God's will'
    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 said 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.

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

    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.

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