Brooklyn Hit-and-Run Update: Julio Acevedo, suspect in death of expectant Brooklyn parents, has lengthy criminal history, police say
(CBS/AP) NEW YORK - Authorities are continuing to search for a man with a history of violence and a prior drunken driving arrest who is also suspected of crashing into a pregnant woman and her husband, killing them and their unborn child.
Police identified the suspected driver as 44-year-old Julio Acevedo, and said he was speeding down the Brooklyn street in a BMW at 60 mph early Sunday when he collided with another car carrying Nachman and Raizy Glauber, both 21, to the hospital. They died Sunday, and their premature son died Monday.
Acevedo was arrested last month on a charge of driving while under the influence, and the case is pending. He served about a decade in prison in the 1990s for manslaughter.
A close-knit ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn was in mourning, and their grief worsened following the baby's death. The child was delivered by cesarean section after his parents were killed. The baby weighed only about 4 pounds when he was delivered, neighbors and friends said.
The city medical examiner's office said the infant died of extreme prematurity.
The baby was buried near the fresh graves of his parents, according to Isaac Abraham, a spokesman for the Hasidic Jewish community. About a thousand community members turned out for the young couple's funeral a day earlier.
"The mood in the neighborhood is very heavy," said Oscar Sabel, a retired printer who lives near the scene of the accident. "We all hoped the baby would survive."
Brooklyn is home to the largest community of ultra-Orthodox Jews outside Israel, more than 250,000. The couple wed last year in a marriage arranged through a matchmaker and were living in the Williamsburg neighborhood.
They were members of the Satmar Hasidic sect. Raizy Glauber grew up in a prominent rabbinical family. Her husband was studying at a rabbinical college; his family founded a line of clothing for Orthodox Jews.
Sabel said it was a terrible tragedy.
"But it's what God wants," he said. "Maybe the baby's death, and his parents', is not for nothing; God doesn't have to give us answers."
Raizy Glauber, who was seven months pregnant, wasn't feeling well early Sunday, so the couple decided to go to the hospital, relatives said. They called a livery cab because they did not own a car.
The livery cab drove to a stop sign, but it's not clear if the driver stopped. Police said the crash with the BMW reduced the cab to a crumpled heap, and Glauber was thrown from the wreck. The engine ended up in the back seat, Abraham said.
Police said the driver of the BMW ran away.
"We in the community are demanding that the prosecutor charge the driver of BMW that caused the death of this couple and infant ... with triple homicide," Abraham said in a statement. "This coward left the scene of the accident not even bothering to check on the people of the other car."
How Acevedo came to possess the BMW is also under investigation. The registered owner, Takia Walker, was arrested on insurance fraud charges Sunday in a scam involving the car, police said. She was not involved in the crash.
A person familiar with the investigation said Walker bought the car legally, or allowed her identification to be used in the purchase, then gave the vehicle to a middleman who either lent or rented it out to the driver. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.