CBS NEWS
A man suspected of fleeing the scene of a grisly crash in New York
City that killed a pregnant woman and her husband was arrested at a
convenience store in northeastern Pennsylvania on Wednesday after a
friend arranged his surrender with authorities.
Julio
Acevedo, 44, walked to officers waiting in cars in the parking lot in
Bethlehem, Pa., and was arrested on charges of leaving the scene of an
accident, said Paul Browne, chief spokesman for the New York Police
Department. Acevedo, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, said nothing to
officers who took him into custody, Browne said.
The
surrender, which occurred shortly after 5 p.m., was brokered by a friend
who had been in touch with police earlier in the day. The friend met
officers at New York's Grand Central Station, then led them to Acevedo
in Bethlehem, about 80 miles away, police said.
Acevedo
was being held by Pennsylvania State Police and was awaiting extradition
to New York. Browne said it wasn't clear when he would be returned.
Acevedo was arrested last month on a charge of driving
while under the influence, and that case is pending. He served about a
decade in prison in the 1990s for manslaughter.
No one
answered the door at Acevedo's last known address, in a public housing
complex in Brooklyn. Neighbors said his mother lived in the same
building, but she did not answer her door.
The Glauber's
close-knit ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn was in mourning,
only worsened following the baby's death. He weighed only about 4 pounds
when he was delivered, neighbors and friends said. He died of extreme
prematurity, according to the city medical examiner's office.
Isaac Abraham, a community spokesman, told WCBS 880
upon news of Acevedo's arrest: "Doesn't bring back the three precious
lives that were lost and now he's going to have to be man enough to face
the justice system, pay the consequences of the three people that
during the course of the accident, caused their death."
The
infant was buried Monday 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, whose men dress in dark
coats and hats, wear long beards like their Eastern European ancestors
and have limited dealings with the outside world. 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, dressed in the traditional long black coat of the Satmar, 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."
Shortly
after midnight Saturday, Raizy Glauber, who was seven months pregnant,
wasn't feeling well, so the couple decided to go to the hospital, said
Sara Glauber, Nachman Glauber's cousin. They called a livery cab, a
hired car that is arranged via telephone, not hailed off the street like
a yellow cab.
The livery cab had 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 Raizy 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 telephone number registered to
Walker rang unanswered.
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.
The driver of the livery cab,
Pedro Nunez Delacruz, was knocked unconscious but was not seriously
hurt. His vehicle should not have been sent to pick up the passengers
because an application to use the Toyota as a livery cab had not yet
been approved, the city Taxi and Limousine Commission said.