A young man and his pregnant wife were on the way to the hospital in Brooklyn early today when the livery cab in which they were riding was struck by another vehicle, killing them both.
Their child, a baby boy, was delivered after his mother's death and survived, the police said.
The accident occurred shortly after midnight on today at an intersection in Williamsburg, the police said. After the crash, the driver of the other car, a BMW sedan, and another passenger fled on foot, the police said. They have not been found.
The cab's driver was taken to Bellevue Hospital and is listed in serious condition.
The victims, Nathan Glauber and Raizi Glauber, were both 21, the police said.
The force of the crash ejected Raizi Glauber from the vehicle, the police said. The couple was headed to Long Island College Hospital.
Yisroel Altman, 24, a salesman who lives in South Williamsburg, said he rushed to the scene shortly after the accident.
He said he saw emergency responders use metal cutters to remove Nathan Glauber, who was unconscious, from the back passenger door of the cab and try to revive him.
Altman said Raizi Glauber, who had been sitting behind the driver, was thrown from the vehicle and landed under a tractor-trailer parked on the north side of Kent Avenue.
This morning, debris, including a car bumper and blue medical gloves, remained under the tractor-trailer.
It was not clear initially why the couple was going to the hospital. Some friends of the family said that Raizi Glauber had gone into labour, but the police could not confirm this.
There were also initial reports that the couple's son was delivered at the scene of the collision, but the police said later that he was delivered at Bellevue Hospital, where the mother was rushed for treatment.
Both victims were members of Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish community.
Isaac Abraham, a community leader in Williamsburg and a friend of Raizi Glauber's parents, said the baby was the couple's first child. Neighbors said the couple had been married over a year ago, and that Nathan Glauber was in school studying the Bible. Neighbors said Raizi Glauber's family had a diamond business.
As of this morning, their baby was listed in serious condition at Bellevue Hospital, Abraham said. The funeral for the parents was expected to be held this afternoon.
Abraham said Brooklyn's close-knit Orthodox community was rallying to help the family and that the welfare of the child was now the utmost concern.
"Most of the resources are going to the child to make sure he gets all the medical attention he needs," Abraham said.
New York Times
