Alexandra Sabine Lewalter Maric, a German tourist who was reportedly celebrating her wedding anniversary with husband, Udo Lewalter, was killed in a hit-and-run collision in Midtown the afternoon of Sept. 24. According to reports in the New York Post and other outlets, a driver who only had a learners’ permit backed up a vehicle at a high rate of speed near the intersection of East 40th Street and Fifth Avenue, striking the couple at the crosswalk. Both pedestrians were knocked to the ground.
Lewalter Maric was pinned under the vehicle and almost decapitated, the Post reports. She was pronounced deceased at the scene while her husband was transported to Bellevue Hospital where doctors reattached a severed finger and treated a skull fracture, officials said. He is said to be in stable condition. The driver, 40-year-old Mohammed Abouzaid, fled the scene, but was arrested nearby about an hour after the fatal pedestrian accident, officials said. KABC reports that Abouzaid was charged with leaving the scene of an incident causing death and failure to yield to a pedestrian or cyclist. We offer our deepest condolences to the family of the deceased victim for their tragic loss, and wish her injured husband a speedy and full recovery.
Holding Hit-and-Run Drivers Accountable
In New York, leaving the scene of an accident without stopping is considered a serious offense, commonly referred to as a hit-and-run. Under New York Vehicle and Traffic Law §600, any driver involved in an accident must stop and provide their name, address and insurance information to the other party or to law enforcement. This applies whether the accident involves another vehicle, a pedestrian, a bicyclist or even property.
In a hit-and-run collision, the driver and vehicle owner are both responsible parties even if the owner was not driving when the accident occurred. If the driver was on the job and/or operating a company vehicle at the time, his or her employer can also be held liable. When the driver is apprehended in a hit-and-run case, he or she can be held financially liable for the injuries, damages and losses caused.
Such drivers can be held financially responsible whether or not they are arrested and/or charged. If a hit-and-run driver has injured you, please remember that you can seek compensation through the uninsured motorist clause of your auto insurance policy (even though the driver has not been identified) or through a quasi-state agency if there is no motor vehicle in the victim’s household. You should consult a personal injury lawyer immediately to protect your rights.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been injured in a bicycle accident or pedestrian accident, or if you have lost a loved one in an auto accident caused by a negligent (careless) driver, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you.
Pedestrian accident victims and their families should remember that they can seek compensation for injuries or losses in collisions even if the victim was not walking in a marked crosswalk and even if the driver involved in collision was not charged. Our law firm recovered the full one-million-dollar insurance policy for a girl who was not in the crosswalk when a motor vehicle hit her.
For over 54 years, our skilled accident attorneys have established a proven track record of helping injured victims get fair compensation for their losses. Our law firm recently recovered $5,600,000 for a bicyclist who was hit by a van, and $2,550,000 for another victim of a truck accident, and $3,000,000 for a pedestrian who was hit by a car, and $2,000,000 in a hit-and-run accident, and the full $1,000,000 insurance policy for a pedestrian who was hit by a truck, and $4,625,000 for a driver who was in a car and was hit by a van, and $2,500,000 for a man who fell through an improperly secured hole. We also recovered $1,500,000 for a lady who was hurt by a bus.
We also obtained $295,000 out of a $300,000 insurance policy in compensation for the victim of a bicycle dooring accident (where a car door opens into the path of a bicyclist). One of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases. Also, we got a $1,400,000 verdict in a motorcycle accident.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury, lead poisoning and medical malpractice cases including, brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy) and cerebral palsy cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
Other TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
Please visit us at: www.WORK4YOULAW.com
Source: https://nypost.com/2025/09/25/us-news/german-tourist-killed-in-grisly-hit-and-run-was-in-nyc-celebrating-wedding-anniversary-with-husband/