Newborn baby dies, creating triple tragedy after late-night Brooklyn hit-and-run kills expecting parents

The tiniest victim of a hit-and-run that wiped out a young Brooklyn family was laid to rest Monday, as cops hunted for the heartless driver — an ex-con who was busted for drunken driving about two weeks ago.

Julio Acevedo, the subject of the police dragnet, has a long rap sheet, including an eight-year stretch in prison for shooting a man to death in Brooklyn in 1987.

Police believe the violent felon was behind the wheel of a BMW that barreled down Kent Ave. in Brooklyn early Sunday at more than 60 mph — twice the speed limit. The flashy ride T-boned a livery cab that was carrying an expectant couple to a hospital about 12:30 a.m.

Nachman and Raizel Glauber, who was seven months pregnant with their first child and was experiencing pains that night, did not survive the wreck. But doctors at Bellevue Hospital were able to deliver their baby boy.

The newborn, who weighed less than 3 pounds, died about 5 a.m. Monday — snuffing out the only ray of hope to emerge from the couple’s terrible fate.

The boy, to be named after his father, was buried with little fanfare near the fresh graves of his Orthodox Jewish parents in a cemetery in Kiryas Joel, Orange County. The cause of death for the infant was extreme prematurity due to blunt-force trauma to the mother, the medical examiner said.

Joseph Silberstein, Raizel Glauber’s brother, spoke on behalf of the family in the hallway of their Clymer St. building. He said he laid eyes on his tragic nephew before his brief life ended.

“I’d rather not get into it,” Silberstein said. “I can’t. This was God’s will. We accept it.”

Silberstein said the suspect who ran from the scene can’t imagine the tragedy he left behind. “Whoever did not go through this can’t even contemplate what this is, to lose a sister and her husband . . . and more, at once, so suddenly.”

Relatives and a friend of Acevedo, 44, said the cowardly driver was trying to get his hands on some cash to hire a lawyer. Then he was planning to surrender.

“He’s willing to cop out to whatever it is. He’s admitting his responsibility,” said his pal, Derrick Hamilton.

The suspect has quite a tale.

Acevedo told friends he was out for a joyride through a residential part of Williamsburg when he spotted an old nemesis. The rival began chasing him and Acevedo slammed his foot down on the gas, and soon after smashed into the young couple’s livery car near Wilson St. The Glaubers, both 21, weren’t wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash, cops said.

The cab driver, Pedro Nunez, survived with minor injuries.

Acevedo’s mother, who lives in Brooklyn, said she has no contact with her estranged son. “I know why you are here. You are here for my son. He doesn’t live here,” the sobbing woman said from inside her apartment at the Farragut Houses.

She refused to give her name or open the door. “I don’t want to talk. I have nothing to say. Tell the family of my condolences,” the distraught woman said, weeping on the other side of the door.

The felon’s mother said her niece told her about the hit-and-run tragedy. She also expects her son to turn himself in. “He doesn’t call me. I didn’t raise him,” she added.

In other developments:

l The career criminal had a 0.13 blood-alcohol content after a DWI bust on Feb. 17 in Brooklyn, authorities said. The legal limit in New York is 0.08. Acevedo had come from a baby shower at the Sugar Hill Club in Bedford-Stuyvesant when he was pulled over for driving erratically, authorities said.

The bad seed told cops he had a couple of beers. He was arrested on Lafayette Ave. about 3:15 a.m. Court records show he was in a BMW during that bust, too — but not the same one involved in Sunday’s wreck. Cops said Acevedo was slurring his words and had red eyes and alcohol on his breath. That case is pending; he’s due back in court April 10.

l Grief-stricken relatives and friends of the Glaubers crowded into the couple’s Williamsburg apartment on Monday to sit shiva — a day after at least 1,000 people mourned the couple at a funeral outside the Hasidic Congregation Yetev Lev D’Satmar.

Retired printer Oscar Sabel, who lives near the scene of the crash, said the mood in the close-knit neighborhood was one of despair. “We all hoped the baby would survive,” he said.

l Takia Walker, 29, who owned the BMW that plowed into the Glaubers, has been charged in the Bronx with insurance fraud. She was released from custody on Monday.

“Prosecution has been deferred pending further investigation,” said a spokesman for the Bronx district attorney’s office.

Police initially suspected the car was purchased and registered under false pretenses.

But Walker, who called the Daily News Monday from police custody, said the BMW was legally hers.

“I let my friend borrow my car. I don’t know what happened from that point,” she said. “I woke up with the police picking me up.”

She said she gave the car to a friend named Twana on Friday morning. The friend was supposed to go to the airport, park the BMW there and return it Monday. “I have no clue (why) there was a man driving the car,” said Walker, mother to a year-old child.

l Police have offered a $2,000 reward for information leading them to Acevedo’s whereabouts. Anyone with information should call (800) 577-TIPS. Two City Council members and members of the Orthodox Jewish community also offered awards totaling $15,000.

l Acevedo will likely be charged with leaving the scene of an accident. He could be charged with vehicular homicide or vehicular manslaughter if prosecutors can prove he was intoxicated, said defense attorney Todd Greenberg, who specializes in vehicular law.

Second-degree manslaughter carries a 15-year sentence.

l Greenberg said some prosecutors have filed charges of depraved-indifference murder, which carries a life sentence, in cases where the driver’s conduct before the crash was particularly egregious.

But it’s too early to tell if that would apply in this case.

With Reuven Blau and Chelsia Rose Marcius and Joe Stepansky