Reckless Driver Pleads Guilty to Assault, After Crash That Ended Taxi Driver’s Career
On Oct. 30, 2022, 28-year-old Hamza Salman drove at 99 m.p.h. down Fifth Ave. and blew two red lights. He then violently crashed into an occupied taxi, seriously injuring the driver. This is according to the Manhattan D.A.’s office, who announced Salman’s plea deal on Jan. 24, 2024.
| 25 Jan 2024 | 07:11
E. 44th St. & Fifth Ave., the intersection where Hamza Salman slammed his BMW into a taxi–at 99 m.p.h.–on Oct. 22, 2022. On Jan. 24, 2024, Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg said that Salman had pled guilty to assault. (
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A reckless driver who blew two red lights in Midtown and grievously injured a taxi driver has pled guilty to assault, according to the Manhattan D.A.’s office.
Prosecutors say that 28 year-old Hamza Salman had been speeding south at no less than 99 m.p.h. down Fifth Ave. on October 20, 2022, when he blew two red lights at E. 45th and E. 44th St. He hit 51 year-old Golam Uddin, who had been a cabbie for 27 years at the time, as he was driving eastbound on E. 44th St. The force of the crash sent the taxi skidding nearly all the way to E. 43rd St.
Prosecutors says that Uddin broke his ribs, collar bones, and scapula in the crash. He was reportedly in critical condition upon being rushed to Bellevue Hospital. He also required multiple surgeries, and as of today is unable to work due to persistent pain and limited mobility.
Uddin is a former head of the Bangladesh Yellow Society New York, a taxi trade group.
Salman was initially reported to be drag racing in his white 2018 BMW M5 during the incident, although he later told the Daily News that he was “all alone” at the time. Therefore, he said, he obviously couldn’t be racing anybody.
Despite driving at nearly four times the legal speed limit, Salman also claimed to authorities that he believed he had caught a “yellow light” at E. 44th St. A yellow light is widely understood as a signal for drivers to “slow down.”
Salman faces two years in state prison. His sentence will reportedly be meted out on March 5.