Update: A spokesman for the Taxi and Limousine Commission said Abubkar did not work more than 12 consecutive hours, the commission's limit, because he took intermittent breaks. Abubkar started work at 9 a.m. and worked five hours until 2 p.m.; he took a one-hour break and started work again at 3 p.m. He then drove until 5:40 p.m. and took a break until 7 p.m. He then continued driving until 12:40 a.m., when the crash occurred.
"We are working on more effective ways to address the serious concerns of overtired drivers on our streets, and so the TLC will prioritize revisiting rules on this issue, and seeking and reviewing best practices to see how we can make them most effective across all the industries regulated by the TLC," said the spokesman.
UPPER WEST SIDE — An 88-year-old woman crossing West 109th Street Sunday was hit and killed by a cab driver who'd been working for 16 hours, police and a councilman said.
Luisa Rosario was walking south on West 109th Street at Columbus Avenue at 12:42 a.m. when she was struck in the middle of the crosswalk, police said.
Rosario had the right of way, according to the NYPD.
She was pronounced dead at St. Luke's Hospital at 1:35 a.m., police said.
The cab driver, Salifu Abubkar, 73, was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for hitting a pedestrian who had the right of way, under the city's Right of Way law.
Rosario lived just a block north on West 110th Street near Columbus Avenue, police said.
Abubkar, who lives in the Bronx, had been driving for 16 hours when he hit Rosario, according to City Councilman Mark Levine, who represents the northern part of the neighborhood.
Taxi drivers are supposed to work no longer than 12 hours at a time under city regulations.
"We need to put mechanisms in place to make sure no other New Yorkers are endangered by fatigued taxi drivers exceeding the legal limit for hours behind the wheel," Levine said in a statement.
Abubkar has been driving since at least 1989, according to a spokesman for the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
His cab driver's license was immediately revoked as a result of his failure-to-yield under a new law passed last May called Cooper's Law, the spokesman added.
Cooper Stock, 9, died when a cab driver failed to yield to him in an intersection and hit him.
Information about Abubkar's lawyer was not immediately available.
The crash marks the first pedestrian fatality in the year for the 24th Precinct. In 2014, seven pedestrians and one cyclist were killed by drivers in the precinct.
