NYC: Muslim driver reverses at high speed, striking a tourist couple and killing a woman, whose injuries were nearly decapitating

Image: Jihad Watch

Authorities have charged 40-year-old Mohammed Abouzaid of the Bronx with failure to yield to a pedestrian and leaving the scene of an accident without reporting. He was taken into custody and is awaiting arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.

When questioned by investigators, Abouzaid — who, according to records, has no prior arrests — allegedly denied responsibility. “I did not hit anybody,” he reportedly told officers at the time of his arrest, according to police sources.

The tragic incident occurred on Wednesday at approximately 2:40 p.m., when a 2001 Toyota Sienna minivan suddenly reversed at a high rate of speed at the busy intersection of East 40th Street and Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. Police said the driver, who had been blocking the intersection while facing eastbound on East 40th Street, abruptly backed up into traffic. In doing so, he pinned a German couple — identified as 50-year-old Alexandra Sabine Lewalter Maric of Hamburg and her husband — between the van and a box truck that was stopped at the red light.

The violent impact proved catastrophic. Lewalter Maric was nearly decapitated and died instantly at the scene, according to sources. Her husband, aged 55 and reportedly celebrating his birthday that day, suffered a fractured skull. He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where doctors listed him in stable condition as he received treatment.

Rather than remain at the scene, Abouzaid allegedly fled in the minivan, which bore a Mississippi license plate and a vanity tag reading “TIMES SQUARE.” However, he did not evade authorities for long. Roughly an hour later, one of the NYPD’s new Quality of Life enforcement teams located and apprehended him near West 38th Street and Eighth Avenue, police confirmed.

(This Article was originally published by Jihad Watch)