Retired teacher Darryl Loo on Tuesday was still struggling with the news about his former Kaimuki High School student who went on to become a Broadway star.
Tony Award-winning actress Ruthie Ann Blumenstein, 34, whose stage name is Ruthie Ann Miles, was struck Monday by a runaway car that ran a red light near her Brooklyn home. She was with 4-year-old daughter Abigail Blumenstein, who died from the accident.
“Ruthie was a great mom,” Loo said. “Abigail and her were meant to be together.”
Also in the accident were Blumenstein’s friend Lauren Lew, 33, and her 1-year-old son, Joshua Lew, who was killed. Lew’s father is from Oahu, and he flew to New York to be with his daughter.
Meanwhile, the driver of the car had her license suspended Tuesday as police investigate whether she should have even been driving.
The 44-year-old woman from Staten Island, identified at Dorothy Bruns, told police that she suffered from heart problems, seizures and multiple sclerosis, according to news reports, and that she was having a seizure when the accident happened at about 12:40 p.m. (Eastern time) Monday.
The car, a white Volvo, plowed into the friends while they were in a marked crosswalk at the intersection of 9th Street and 5th Avenue not far from their 5th Avenue homes in the Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn. Blumenstein is pregnant.
After the group was struck, the vehicle accelerated, dragging a baby stroller for more than 300 feet. The sedan then hit a parked, unoccupied vehicle before it came to a stop.
When officers arrived, they saw Blumenstein, Lew and the two children on the pavement with various injuries to their heads and bodies.
News reports described pandemonium in the immediate aftermath of the accident, with various people running to come to the victims’ aid.
“It was horrible to watch,” witness Debbie LaSalle told the New York Daily News. “I’m still in shock. The white car was going really fast. The pregnant mother was facedown, and the baby flew into the street. She dragged the stroller, and the other baby was pinned under the car.”
Emergency vehicles transported the victims to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital where the two children were pronounced dead.
As of Tuesday afternoon, a hospital spokeswoman said, one adult was in stable condition, and a second adult was released Monday after being treated for injuries sustained in the crash.
The spokeswoman declined to say which patient was released from the hospital, but a memorial service was held Tuesday for Joshua Lew. His grandparents, including grandfather William Durston from Oahu, reportedly were in attendance.
“I’m concerned about (Lauren Lew’s) health and her mental well-being,” Durston told the Daily News.
The accident struck a nerve in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood Tuesday morning as protesters confronted New York Mayor Bill de Blasio about traffic safety and demanding changes to calm traffic, The New York Times reported.
City records indicated that in the last two years, the Volvo had been caught on camera violating speed regulations around schools on four separate occasions, and another four times was caught running red lights, according to the Times.
However, the violations are tied to the car, not to the driver, and a law enforcement official told the Times that Bruns had a clean driving record.
At the scene, police also discovered a fifth pedestrian, a 46-year-old man, who was struck by the sedan and transported in stable condition to the hospital.
Police, who have made no arrests, said the woman had a “medical episode” at the time of the collision and that she made no effort to flee. She was transported to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn in stable condition.
Blumenstein, who graduated from Kaimuki High School in 2001 and moved to New York in 2005 to attend graduate school, won the 2015 Tony Award for best actress in a featured role in a musical in the revival of “The King and I,” where she played Lady Thiang. It was her Broadway debut.
During her acceptance speech she thanked “the Loos,” among others.
Loo, in Honolulu, said Blumenstein’s husband called to tell him about the accident before it hit the news Monday.
“It’s terrible,” said Loo, who said he keeps in touch with his former student monthly. “When she comes home (to Hawaii), she stays with me. She’s definitely part of the family.”
Loo, who taught Polynesian music at Kaimuki, said he recognized Blumenstein as a “fantastic talent” with an amazing voice who became a soloist.
“She played the flute, ukulele, keyboards. She was involved in the performing arts. Her whole life was the arts,” he said.
Many of the performer’s Broadway colleagues mourned the deaths on social media. Among them were Kristin Chenoweth, Sutton Foster, Audra McDonald, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Daniel Dae Kim, formerly of “Hawaii Five-0,” who left to work on Broadway in “The King and I.”
“Please please pray
for @RuthieAnnMiles,” Kim tweeted.
GoFundMe pages set up to raise money for both families are seeing overwhelming success. As of Tuesday night the page for Blumenstein raised more than $300,000, while the one for Lew showed pledges close to $150,000.
“Ruthie is beloved by her many friends and colleagues in the Broadway and touring communities. She is always kind and always has a smile. It is our honor to help her in this difficult time,” wrote Jack Stephens, “The King and I” company manager.
According to friends who set up the Lew page, the family is living in Brooklyn while husband Charles Lew completes his residency.
“It is our hope that these funds can help alleviate their financial burdens as they prepare to lay their son to rest,” the page said.
On her Facebook page in February, Blumenstein indicated she was seven months pregnant.
