Accident (file)
Accident (file)Israel news photo: Flash 90

A day after a car crash claimed the lives of a young hassidic couple in Brooklyn and their son was born prematurely in an emergency procedure, the baby died on Monday. Doctors at the hospital to which he was rushed had fought valiantly to save his life.

The death of the baby, delivered about three months early, elevated the sadness in the couple’s tight-knit hassidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which had sought solace in the newborn’s survival serving as a vestige of the young family.

His death also served to reinvigorate calls to bring serious criminal charges against the driver of the BMW sedan that struck the car service vehicle in which  his parents, Raizy and Nathan Glauber, both 21, were riding.

Police officials on Monday identified the driver as Julio Acevedo, 44, of Brooklyn, who fled the scene of the crash. He was still being sought on Monday afternoon, reported the NYTimes.

The owner of the BMW, Takia Walker, 29, of the Bronx, was arrested on Sunday on charges of insurance fraud, accused of buying and registering the car under false pretenses.

The crash occurred Sunday just after midnight. The Glaubers, feeling something may have been wrong with the pregnancy, called a car service to take them to a hospital. Their cab was struck on the driver’s side by the BMW with such force that Raizy was ejected onto the pavement and both cars were mangled.

Nathan Glauber was taken to Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan, and his wife was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center, where the baby was delivered prematurely and intubated. The parents were pronounced dead early Sunday.

The police told the Times that Acevedo would, at minimum, face charges for fleeing the scene of an accident. Investigators may seek to establish whether he was drunk at the time of the accident, a task made more difficult by his flight from the scene.

Police and witness accounts had indicated that there was a female passenger in the BMW, but police officials said Monday that Acevedo had been driving alone.

A witness told the police that the BMW had been traveling at a high rate of speed on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, when it struck the cab as it turned onto the avenue from Wilson Street.

“The driver of the BMW was doing at least 60 miles an hour when it hit the other vehicle,” said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, according to the New York Times.

The Satmar Rebbe was among the many thousands who attended the funeral of the young kollel student and his wife.