Kin told ‘too late’ of death
Tragic cabby’s family sues
The relatives of a cabdriver who died of heart attack while changing a tire is suing the NYPD for taking two days to notify them — delaying their right to perform time-sensitive traditional Muslim rituals, they claim.
Magdy Abouzaid, 61, died on Aug. 30, 2017, on the shoulder of the Henry Hudson Parkway.
According to the family’s Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit, cops “recklessly listed Mr. Abouzaid as an unidentified person — even though Mr. Abouzaid’s hack license was displayed prominently inside his cab” and his wallet with ID and phone were in the car.
The Egyptian-born grandfather and 30-year veteran cabdriver left his home in Bayonne, NJ, to work his regular night shift in New York City when he had car trouble.
He died of a heart at- tack at around midnight.
A passer-by, Omar Ibrahim, called the police and waited for cops to arrive.
After Officer Yudelka Espinal and Sgt. Joreyni Martinez arrived at the scene, Ibrahim tried to answer Abouzaid’s ringing phone but they stopped him, the court papers claim.
For nearly two days, the cabby’s family “had no idea what happened” to Abouzaid, “let alone that he had died,” the suit filed Wednesday claims.
The Medical Examiner’s Office informed them of his death two days later, “by then [the family] all of whom are Muslim, had been deprived of the opportunity to promptly carry out the traditional Muslim death rituals” — which are supposed to be performed within 24 hours, the court papers say.
Abouzaid’s daughter, Marwa, told The Post the family was appalled by how cops handled the situation.
“We still have guilt that they treated our dad that way. He didn’t deserve that,” Marwa, 34, said. “We had to rush everything . . . Everything wasn’t the way that we wished it would be.”
A spokesperson for the City Law Department said, “This incident was tragic. We’ll review the legal case.”
The NYPD declined to comment, and the two cops involved could not immediately be reached for comment.