{"id":260446,"date":"2025-09-28T04:38:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T04:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/260446\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T04:38:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T04:38:15","slug":"german-tourist-killed-in-hit-and-run-was-in-nyc-with-husband-to-celebrate-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/260446\/","title":{"rendered":"German tourist killed in hit-and-run was in NYC with husband to celebrate anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

The German tourist who was fatally struck in a hit-and-run by a minivan driver in Midtown<\/a> was in New York City celebrating her wedding anniversary with her husband, who was also critically injured in the incident, her longtime friend told the Daily News.<\/p>\n

Alexandra Sabine Lewalter Maric, 50, and her husband, 55, from Hamburg,<\/a> Germany, were celebrating 23 years of marriage<\/a> with a trip to the Big Apple. The couple started their visit by taking a cruise out of New York City on Virgin Voyages. But their dream trip ended in tragedy \u2014 just two days after their anniversary \u2014 in the gruesome accident right outside the 42nd St. public library.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey flew to New York City and started the cruise<\/a> there,\u201d said Udo Meixner, 56, a journalist in Germany at Nordbayerischer Kurier and a friend of the victim since they were both teenagers. \u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewalter Maric and her husband were in the crosswalk on E. 40th St. just west of Fifth Ave. around 2:40 p.m. Wednesday when a blue-gray minivan that was in the intersection reversed<\/a>, pinning the couple against a box truck that was stopped at the red light behind them, police said.<\/p>\n

\"HerHer friend described Alexandra Sabine Lewalter Maric as a happy and positive person, as well as a big music fan, especially in her younger days. (Facebook)<\/p>\n

Lewalter Maric was pronounced dead at the scene as stunned witnesses told The News that she was nearly decapitated in the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe, her friends here in Germany are still shocked of course. It\u2019s very hard to believe,\u201d Meixner said. \u201cThis accident was so dumb and senseless\u2026<\/p>\n

Her husband, whose skull was fractured and was bleeding from his head and shoulder, was seen feebly reaching out to his dead wife as he lay sprawled on the asphalt, a mixed-nuts vendor who witnessed the bloody scene said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was facedown on the ground, her head was squished, like, decapitated,\u201d the vendor, 28, from Union City, NJ, said. \u201cThe guy was bleeding from the head and shoulder \u2014 he was reaching over to her but she was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lady was crossing with the guy. There was a car in the crosswalk. The light was yellow and [the driver] was stuck,\u201d Rosa Paredes, 38, an NYC Ice Cream truck driver who lives in Queens, who also witnessed the terrible incident. \u201cThe truck came like he wanted to make the light, too. The minivan backed up \u2014 it was mucho rapido, they were sandwiched, crushed. They were on the ground. She died instantly. The blood sprayed everywhere. It was horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The husband was rushed by EMS to Bellevue Hospital, where he was treated for a skull fracture and was likely to survive, police said.<\/p>\n

\"MohammedMohammed Abouzaid is pictured during his arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Manhattan, New York. (Steven Hirsch \/ Pool)<\/p>\n

The minivan driver, Mohammed Abouzaid, 40, fled the scene<\/a> before getting stuck in traffic at W. 38th St. and Eighth Ave., where he was taken into custody, cops said.<\/p>\n

According to police, the minivan had a Mississippi license plate on its front end and a \u201cTimes Square\u201d souvenir vanity plate on its rear.<\/p>\n

Abouzaid, who lives in the Castle Hill<\/a> section of the Bronx, on Thursday was charged with leaving the scene of an accident and two misdemeanor counts of failing to yield to a pedestrian with the right of way.<\/p>\n

The top charge carries a potential sentence of up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. A judge granted a request by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg<\/a>\u2019s office for $25,000 cash bail or $75,000 bond.<\/p>\n

Abouzaid is due back in court on Sept. 30.<\/p>\n

Meixner said Lewalter Maric was a music lover and had enjoyed going to concerts ever since they first met when they were 16. She grew up Selb, a town in Upper Franconia before later moving to Wurzburg and Cologne, according to Meixner. She worked at Apple in Hamburg.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlex was always cheerful and full of life \u2014 I never saw her have a bad day,\u201d her friend said. \u201cWhenever I traveled to Hamburg with my family, we met up and, of course, celebrated the good old days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewalter Maric and her husband met in Hamburg, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was the nicest person you can imagine,\u201d Meixner said.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: September 27, 2025 at 8:07 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The German tourist who was fatally struck in a hit-and-run by a minivan driver in Midtown was in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":260447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,2451,3059,5295,1370,728,5249,405,403,5294,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5293,5321,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-260446","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-county","11":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-manhattan","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-new-york-county","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-newyork","20":"tag-newyorkcity","21":"tag-ny","22":"tag-nyc","23":"tag-nyc-crime","24":"tag-sub-county-region","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115280078825262845","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}