Baby Death Hit-And-Run Suspect Named

Police have named a driver they are hunting for after expectant parents were killed in a hit-and-run in New York, and their baby - who was born after the crash - later died.

Julio Acevedo, 44, was travelling in a BMW at 60mph (97kph) when he collided with a car hired to take Nachman and Raizy Glauber to hospital, authorities said.

The couple, both 21, died in the crash in Brooklyn but their baby boy initially survived after doctors performed an emergency caesarean section.

However, Isaac Abraham, a spokesman for the family's Orthodox Jewish community, said the child died on Monday morning.

Speaking about the driver of the other car, he added: "This guy's a coward and he should pay his price."

Mr Abraham said the community wants a murder prosecution.

Police say Acevedo served time in prison in the 1990s for manslaughter and was charged with driving under the influence just last month.

The registered owner of the BMW, who was not in the car at the time of the crash, has been charged with insurance fraud.

Many of the Glaubers' fellow Orthodox Jews attended the couple's funeral, which was held hours after their deaths. Jewish law calls for the burial of the dead as soon as possible.

Mr Glauber was described as "the sweetest, most charming human being, always with a smile on his face".

His cousin, Sara Glauber, said of the couple: "If one had to go, the other had to go too because they really were one soul."

The hit-and-run happened in the Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn, as the couple made their way to a local hospital in a cab.

Mrs Glauber, who was seven months pregnant, was sitting in the back of the car. Her body was thrown from the vehicle and landed under a parked lorry, according to witnesses.

Her husband was trapped in the vehicle and emergency workers had to cut the roof off to free him from the wreckage.

The cab driver was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital and released.

The Glaubers were married about a year ago and had started a life together in Williamsburg, relatives said. He was studying at a rabbinical college nearby.

At their funeral, men in black hats gathered around the coffins in the middle of the street, while women in bright headscarves stood on the pavement, in accordance with the Orthodox Jewish tradition of separating the sexes at religious services.

A man could be heard sobbing as he spoke through a loudspeaker, while Yitzchok Silberstein, Mrs Glauber's father, said: "I will never forget you, my daughter."

Brooklyn is home to the largest community of ultra-Orthodox Jews outside Israel. More than 250,000 live in the New York borough.