A pregnant actress whose young daughter was killed by a driver in Brooklyn lost her unborn child, her lawyer said.
Ruthie Ann Blumenstein, who goes by the name Ruthie Ann Miles on stage, was walking with friend Lauren Lew when a driver hit a group of pedestrians. The driver killed her 4-year-old daughter and Lew’s 1-year-old son.
She and her husband, Jonathan Blumenstein, were expecting a girl.
“The pain suffered by Ruthie and Jonathan is nearly impossible to fathom,” the family’s lawyer told Pix11. “As you might imagine, they are overwhelmed by the sadness of the deaths of their children. Ruthie and Jonathan are grateful for the support of their family and friends but wish and ask that their privacy be respected during this most trying time. Ruthie and Jonathan continue to seek God’s presence, mercy and peace.”
The driver, 44-year-old Dorothy Bruns, was charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, reckless endangerment, and assault. She ignored her doctor’s advice, getting behind the wheel of the car.
“She loved being a mom. She couldn’t wait to expand her family. Losing those kids, it’s destroyed her. How can she even survive this? It’s taking every bit of her faith to find a way through,” the friend added to the publication.
She had won a Tony Award for best-featured actress in a musical for the 2015 revival of “The King and I.”
“Everyone in her life is rallying around Ruthie, as we have since the accident, but both she and Jonathan are really holding one another up through this. They’re deep in the grieving process,” said another friend. “They have a very strong bond, and that’s the one thing that hasn’t broken at all. If anyone will forge this path, it’s them. It’s just so sad, though. She’s going through unspeakable pain. You talk to her and you can just hear it in her voice — a part of her soul is gone.”
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