What to Know
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Ruthie Ann Miles is the Tony Award-winning Broadway star hurt in a crash Monday that also killed her young daughter and a friend’s toddler
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Miles was walking with a friend and their kids in Park Slope when a car ran a red light and struck them, police said. The friend was injured
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Miles was pregnant, according to reports and her social media feeds; she is in critical condition. The unborn baby’s condition isn’t clear.
One of two injured mothers in Monday’s deadly crash in Brooklyn that claimed the lives of the women’s two young children is a Tony-winning actress who also starred in the TV show “The Americans,” a police source familiar with the investigation tells NBC 4 New York.
Ruthie Ann Blumenstein, whose stage name is Ruthie Ann Miles, is in critical condition at the hospital after a driver who police say claimed to have a medical issue gunned through a red light and plowed into a group of people in Park Slope. Her 4-year-old daughter Abigail was killed.
Driver Blowing Through Red Light Kills 2 Kids: NYPD
A second woman was also injured and is in stable condition, police said. Her 1-year-old son Joshua was killed. A 46-year-old man was also run down by the white Volvo that smashed into the group around 1 p.m. Monday at Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue.
One of the mothers was pregnant, police said. The Daily News reports Blumenstein is the pregnant mother, and a heartbreaking photo posted to her Instagram account just weeks ago confirms she was expecting. It shows Blumenstein’s young daughter smiling as she posed in a T-shirt reading “Best Sister Ever.”
“Abigail has an announcement: She’s going to be the BEST Big Sister in a few! #SoExcitedandIJustCantHideIt #NoReally #ICantHideIt,” Blumenstein wrote.
The condition of her unborn baby was not immediately known. Abigail and Joshua were pronounced dead at the scene.
Surveillance footage from the scene shows a white Volvo stopped at the intersection. Then the sedan creeps forward, missing pedestrians crossing on the near side of the road and a car that had the right-of-way. It then appears to speed up somewhat as it slams into the man, women and children in the crosswalk across the intersection.
The car dragged the stroller halfway down the block before coming to a stop.
The driver of the Volvo was taken to the hospital; she told police on the scene she had medical issues. That claim is still being investigated, police said.
Residents in the area said that this isn’t the first deadly crash at the intersection. In 2016, it was the site of a deadly hit-and-run. Later that year, a car slammed into a building and injured four people.
Investigators are looking into a cause of the crash. No charges have been released.
Blumenstein won her Tony Award in 2015 for her role in “The King and I.” She was slated to perform next week at a charity concert called Broadway Baby Mamas in midtown, according to her Twitter account.
She also starred in the fourth season of the critically acclaimed TV drama “The Americans,” playing the Korean wife of a government worker who befriends the Russian spy couple played by Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys.
Fellow Broadway stars have been tweeting their condolences: “This is heart shattering… Ruthie, I am sending you all the love and light in my heart today sweet lady,” said Audra McDonald. “@RuthieAnnMiles sending love to you and your family. there are no words. Except you are loved,” wrote Kristin Chenoweth.
@RuthieAnnMiles sending love to you and your family there are no words. Except you are loved.
— Kristin Chenoweth (@KChenoweth) March 6, 2018
This is heart shattering. Please help if you can and if you can’t please send love and hope and prayers their way. Ruthie, I am sending you all the love and light in my heart today sweet lady.
Ruthie Ann Miles Fund https://t.co/Spsy7MAsBP— Audra McDonald (@AudraEqualityMc) March 6, 2018
This incredible woman of unimaginable kindness and goodness and talent is going through the absolutely unthinkable. Please help @RuthieAnnMiles if you can. https://t.co/04QK6pTf68
— Ben Platt (@BenSPLATT) March 6, 2018
Please help my friend @RuthieAnnMiles and her family https://t.co/HIonQUknly
— Sutton Foster (@sfosternyc) March 6, 2018
Please please pray for @RuthieAnnMiles. ??
— Daniel Dae Kim (@danieldaekim) March 6, 2018
As a mommy, a member of the broadway community, a woman, & a fellow child of God…I find myself here in my kitchen crying about this. We’re praying for you and your family, #RuthieAnnMiles…we who know you, we who don’t…we’re ALL holding you close. https://t.co/wOBw52K5XM
— Heather Headley (@heatherheadley) March 6, 2018
Absolutely gutted. Just gutted. https://t.co/s4pYM2KFl8
— Betsy Wolfe (@BetsyWolfe) March 6, 2018
Humans of twitter. Our friend @RuthieAnnMiles has suffered an unimaginable loss and is pregnant and in critical condition. Please give what you can. https://t.co/mREvGOmiLO
— Laura Benanti (@LauraBenanti) March 6, 2018
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