German Tourist Killed in Horrific Hit-and-Run Accident Was Celebrating Anniversary
A German couple was reportedly celebrating their wedding anniversary in New York City before they were struck in a crosswalk near Bryant Park on Sept. 24. Police arrested a 40-year-old driver.
| 29 Sep 2025 | 02:57
A German tourist, Alexandra Sabine Lewalter Maric, was killed in a tragic mishap near Bryant Park and the New York Public Library on Sept. 24. She and her husband celebrated their 23rd wedding anniversary in NYC two days before the fatal accident, which also left her husband badly injured. (
)
Fifth Avenue near the NY Public Library was the scene of a deadly hit-and-run after a driver drove into two pedestrians at the intersection of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue, killing a 50-year-old woman and seriously injuring her 55-year-old husband. (
)
The couple had reportedly taken a luxury cruise to New York City, which happened two days before they were mowed down while crossing 40th St. in Manhattan by an unlicensed driver, who was arrested. (
)
What appears to be a body covered with a sheet can be seen in the background in front of a red-and-white truck. Police said a 50-year-old woman was killed when she was struck by a vehicle near Bryant Park. A 55-year-old man, also struck, was transported to Bellevue Hospital. The driver fled the scene. (
)
It was supposed to be an idyllic vacation to celebrate their 23rd wedding anniversary with luxury cruise to New York City.But it all turned tragic when an unlicensed driver in a minivan, attempting to get out of a crosswalk at a red light, backed into them near Bryant Park on Sept. 24.
The 50 year old woman was killed in the incident and her 55 year old husband was seriously injured. The driver fled the scene but police said he was caught shortly after the collision on Eighth Ave.
Police identified the victim as Alexandra Sabine Lewalter Maric, from Hamburg Kundenz, Germany. The Daily News reported she and her husband had celebrated their wedding anniversary in New York two days before the fatal accident that nearly decapitated her and seriouly injured her husband.
The accident happened on 40th Street near Fifth Avenue at 2:40 p.m., when the 40-year-old driver of a Toyota Sienna minivan, stranded in the middle of the crosswalk while trying to make a red light, suddenly reversed and backed into the couple who had the WALK sign, crushing them against a box truck that was also stopped for the light.
Police arrested Mohammed Abouzaid, originally from Egypt but currently residing in the Bronx, and charged him with leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in a death and two counts of failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
Lewalter Maric worked for Apple in Germany, the Daily News reported.
Two days earlier life seemed beautiful. “They flew to New York City and started the cruise there,” Udo Meixner, 56, a journalist in Germany at Nordbayerischer Kurier and a friend of the victim, told the Daily News. “And after the cruise, they wanted to stay in New York City for a couple of days. They wanted to celebrate their wedding anniversary. They married on Sept. 22, 2002.”
Prosecutors said Lewalter Maric was nearly decapitated. She was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS. Her husband, who was not identified, was conscious and still able to talk to police before being rushed to Bellevue Hospital with a fractured skull, in critical condition.
“After the collision, the minivan drove off at a high rate of speed,” prosecutors said at Abouzaid’s arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on Sept. 25. Police said the suspect surrendered when approached by cops about eight blocks away on Eighth Avenue while stuck, again, in traffic.
The Toyota Sienna minivan was sporting a fake rear vanity plate with the words “TIMES SQUARE” and an apparently bogus Mississippi license plate on the front. One report said the suspect did not have a driver’s license.
The judge agreed to the prosecutors’ request for bail at $25,000 cash / $75,000 insurance company bond / $75,000 partially secured surety bond. Abouzaid, whose passport was confiscated, is being represented by public defender Eric Williams, who did not respond to a call seeking comment by press time. Abouzaid was due back in court on Sept. 30.
“After the collision, the minivan drove off at a high rate of speed.” — Prosecutors at Manhattan Criminal Court on Sept. 25