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| Members of the Satmar Orthodox Jewish community congregate for the funeral of two expectant parents who were killed in a car accident, Sunday, March 3, 2013, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. A driver struck the car the couple were riding in early Sunday morning, killing both parents while their baby, who was born prematurely, survived and is in critical condition. |
NEW YORK (AP)
-- A pregnant young woman who was feeling ill was headed to the
hospital with her husband early Sunday when the car they were riding in
was hit, killing them both, but their baby boy was born prematurely and
survived, authorities and a relative said.
The
driver of a BMW slammed into the car carrying Nachman and Raizy
Glauber, both 21, at an intersection in the Williamsburg neighborhood of
Brooklyn, said Isaac Abraham, a neighbor of Raizy Glauber's parents who
lives two blocks from the scene of the crash.
Raizy
Glauber was thrown from the car and her body landed under a parked
tractor-trailer, said witnesses who came to the scene after the crash.
Nachman Glauber was pinned in the car, and emergency workers had to cut
off the roof to get him out, witnesses said.
Both
of the Glaubers were pronounced dead at hospitals, police said, and
both died of blunt-force trauma, the medical examiner said.
Their
son was in serious condition, Abraham said. The hospital did not return
calls about the infant. The Glaubers' livery cab driver was treated for
minor injuries at the hospital and was later released. Both the driver
of the BMW and a passenger fled and were being sought, police said.
On
Saturday, Raizy Glauber "was not feeling well, so they decided to go"
to the hospital, said Sara Glauber, Nachman Glauber's cousin. Abraham
said the Glaubers called a car service because they didn't own a car,
which is common for New Yorkers.
The Glaubers
were married about a year ago and had begun a life together in
Williamsburg, where Raizy Glauber grew up in a prominent Orthodox Jewish
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 for Orthodox Jews, Nachman Glauber was
studying at a rabbinical college nearby, said his cousin.
Brooklyn
is home to the largest community of ultra-orthodox Jews outside Israel,
more than 250,000. The community has strict rules governing clothing,
social customs and interaction with the outside world. Men wear dark
clothing that includes a long coat and a fedora-type hat and often have
long beards and ear locks.
Jewish law calls
for burial of the dead as soon as possible, and hours after their
deaths, the Glaubers were mourned by at least 1,000 people at a funeral
outside the Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar synagogue. Men in black hats
gathered around the coffins in the middle of the street, while women in
bright headscarves stood on the sidewalk, in accordance with the
Orthodox Jewish tradition of separating the sexes at religious services.
The
sound of wailing filled the air as two coffins covered in black velvet
with a silver trim were carried from a vehicle. A succession of men and
women delivered eulogies in Yiddish, sobbing as they spoke into a
microphone about the young couple. "I will never forget you, my
daughter!" said Yitzchok Silberstein, Raizy Glauber's father.
Afterward,
the cars carrying the bodies left and headed to Monsey, where another
service was planned in Nachman Glauber's hometown.
"You don't meet anyone better than him," said his cousin. "He was always doing favors for everyone."
She said Nachman's mother herself just delivered a baby two weeks ago.
"I've
never seen a mother-son relationship like this," Sara Glauber said. "He
called her every day to make sure everything was OK. He was the
sweetest, most charming human being, always with a smile on his face."
She added that, of him and his bride, "if one had to go, the other had to go too because they really were one soul."
