TOGETHER IN DEATH: Placards mark the graves yesterday of hit-and-run victims Raizel and Nachman Glauber (inset) at a cemetery in Kiryas Joel, Orange County. Their baby, who died yesterday, was also buried in the cemetery. (
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Several state legislators yesterday demanded that New York toughen its laws so hit-and-run drivers face more jail time for leaving the scene of an accident.
The move follows Sunday’s horrific Williamsburg car crash that left Nachman Glauber and his pregnant wife, Raizel, dead after their livery cab was struck by an allegedly speeding driver who fled the scene.
“We can’t continue to allow a loophole in the law where a drunk driver goes home to sober up and then returns to report the accident,” said state Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn).
Under current law, leaving the scene of an accident “is just a misdemeanor if it’s property damage,” Adams explained. “If someone dies, it bumps it up some.”
But it’s not enough, he added.
Adams, state Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Queens) and state Sen. Marty Golden (R-Brooklyn) said they want legislation that will allow prosecutors to assume that drivers who flee the scene are under the influence of drugs or alcohol so they can be hit with harsher felony charges.
The proposal could mean several more years of jail time for a convicted driver.
“It’s sad how soft the law is,” Adams, a former cop, said, noting that when he was with the NYPD, drivers would often return to the scene a day later after they had sobered up.
The lawmakers spoke at the intersection of Kent Avenue and Wilson Street in Brooklyn, where the Glaubers, both 21 years old, were fatally struck while they were on their way to a hospital.
“Enough is enough. We don’t need any more tragedy,” Weprin said yesterday.
Added Golden, “Leaving the scene of an accident where a person is injured or killed shows nothing less than a blatant disregard for human life.’’