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Pregnant Slope-crash survivor’s unborn baby dies

Small miracle: Pregnant Slope-crash survivor’s unborn baby will live, family says
Associated Press / Andy Kropa

A pregnant mother’s unborn child died from injuries she and the baby sustained months ago when a driver hit the woman and fatally struck two kids on a Park Slope street, her lawyer announced in a statement on Wednesday.

Tony Award–winning actress Ruthie Ann Miles — whose 4–year-old daughter Abigail Blumenstein died immediately following the horrific crash — lost her second child at 39 weeks pregnant, when the baby was full-term, according to attorney Ben Rubinowitz.

“The pain suffered by Ruthie and [her husband] Jonathan is nearly impossible to fathom,” read the statement from Rubinowitz, a personal-injury attorney representing the family.

In March, motorist Dorothy Bruns rolled through a red light and plowed her Volvo sedan into a then seven-months-pregnant Miles, Blumenstein, and three others — including 1-year-old Joshua Lew, who also died in the crash — as they crossed Ninth Street at Fifth Avenue. But shortly after the collision, Miles’s family said her unborn baby survived the ordeal in a statement released via social media.

Investigators later discovered Bruns has a history of seizures and other medical conditions that may have led to the deadly incident, and a grand jury indicted her on reckless manslaughter charges earlier this month after prosecutors alleged she ignored doctors’ orders when she climbed behind the wheel on the day of the collision.

Bruns faces up to 15 years behind bars if convicted, according to the district attorney’s office.

And Miles’s family filed a separate civil suit against Bruns, according to Rubinowitz, who said he expects the death of the actress’s unborn child to affect the case.

“It’s a horrible fact,” he said. “This is something that’s horrific.”

Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixson@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4505.