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Community Mourns Parents-To-Be Who Died in Williamsburg Crash

By Jess Wisloski | March 3, 2013 11:01am | Updated on March 3, 2013 6:37pm

WILLIAMSBURG — A young, expectant couple died early Sunday in a hit-and-run crash, but their baby boy miraculously survived after being delivered by emergency C-section.

Raizy and Nathan Glauber, both 21, of Clymer Street, were headed to a Brooklyn hospital about 12:10 a.m. when the Toyota Camry livery cab they were in was struck by a BMW sedan headed northbound on Kent Avenue, police and relatives said.

Later Sunday, hundreds of mourners filled the streets of Williamsburg to grieve the death of the young couple, who were members of the Satmar Orthodox Jewish community. An hourlong ceremony was held at a local synagogue on Rodney Street, where family and friends said final goodbyes.

"They were a beautiful couple, and this is a tragedy," said Sarah Gluck, 45, Nathan Glauber's cousin, while waiting for the funeral service to begin.

The 32-year-old driver, Pedro Nunez, and the pregnant mother were rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center, where medics delivered Glauber's premature baby boy by cesarean section, cops said. Glauber was declared dead on arrival, police said.

Nunez, according to the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, was treated and released at 8 a.m. Sunday morning.

"This is one of the worst tragedies that I have seen," said Fernando Mateo, spokesman for the NYSFTD. "We are all devastated by this terrible accident." He said Nunez, who has three children and a pregnant wife at home, was resting and recovering, and would be meeting the Glauber family later in the week.

"He is very saddened by what happened," said Mateo. "Hopefully there will be an arrest sooner rather than later."

The infant boy was in serious condition at Bellevue Hospital Center, relatives said. A family spokesman said that the couple had been on their way to the hospital when the crash occurred, according to NBC.

"Now we just pray with the child that all medical efforts keep him alive," Isaac Abraham, a neighbor of Raizy Glauber's parents, told NBC.

Nathan Glauber was rushed to Beth Israel Hospital following the crash, where he, too, was declared dead on arrival.

Police said the operator and a passenger in the gray 2010 BMW fled the scene on foot after smashing into the driver's side of the livery cab.

Neither person has been apprehended yet, police said, but the owner of the vehicle had been identified. The owner of the car was not taken into custody, police said.

An investigation is ongoing, police said.