Minivan driver charged after German tourist killed, nearly decapitated in NYC hit-and-run

NEW YORK — A Bronx man was charged Thursday in a Midtown hit-and-run that killed a German tourist and seriously injured her husband. Mohammed Abouzaid, 40, was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and leaving the scene of an accident without reporting, and was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, police said. Authorities said Abouzaid told investigators, 'I did not hit anybody,' according to law enforcement sources.

The victim, Alexandra Sabine Lewalter Maric, 50, of Hamburg, was killed when a 2001 Toyota Sienna driver backed up at a high rate of speed at East 40th Street and Fifth Avenue around 2:40 p.m. Wednesday. As the driver backed up facing east on East 40th Street, he pinned the couple between his car and a box truck stopped at the light, sources said. The woman was nearly decapitated on impact and pronounced dead at the scene, the sources said. Her husband, 55, who was celebrating his birthday, suffered a fractured skull and was hospitalized in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital.

The minivan, which carried vanity plates reading 'TIMES SQUARE' and appeared to have Mississippi registration, fled the scene before being tracked down about an hour later by an NYPD Quality of Life team at West 38th Street and Eighth Avenue, authorities and sources said. Abouzaid was taken into custody at that location.

The investigation remains active, with prosecutors in Manhattan reviewing the case and police continuing to gather video and witness accounts. Abouzaid has no prior arrests, officials said, and the motive for the crash remained under review.

Pedestrian safety concerns have surged in Midtown Manhattan as investigators detail the sequence of events that led to Wednesday's fatal crash. Police urged anyone with information to come forward to help clarify the moments leading up to the collision.