Driver Charged After W. 53rd and Broadway Pedestrian Death
A driver making a left turn in a 2023 Cadillac SUV failed to yield to a 60-year-old pedestrian crossing with the signal at West 53rd Street and Broadway, where police later identified the woman as actor Wendy Davis and charged MD Abdul Shomuz with failure to yield.
What We Know
On Dec. 8, 2025, just before 9 p.m., Wendy Davis was crossing Broadway at West 53rd Street when a driver in a 2023 Cadillac SUV made a left turn and hit her. The official record says Davis, a 60-year-old pedestrian, was crossing with the signal, and it lists failure to yield right of way as a contributing factor. Police said Davis suffered severe head and body injuries and died at Mount Sinai West. Early reports said the driver stayed at the scene and was not charged at the time. In March 2026, police identified the driver as MD Abdul Shomuz and said he was arrested and charged with misdemeanor failure to yield to a pedestrian. Davis, who lived in Forest Hills, was also known professionally as Wenne Alton Davis and had screen credits including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
A left-turning driver hit Davis in the crosswalk
The crash happened at 8:54 p.m. on Dec. 8, 2025, at West 53rd Street and Broadway in Manhattan. The official record says the pedestrian, a 60-year-old woman, was crossing with the signal at the intersection when a driver in a 2023 Cadillac SUV was making a left turn.
Gothamist and amNewYork reported that Wendy Davis was walking east to west in the south crosswalk when the driver, who had been traveling west on West 53rd Street, turned south onto Broadway and hit her. Police said Davis suffered severe head and body injuries and was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai West.
Wendy Davis was remembered as an actor and JFK worker
Police identified the pedestrian as Wendy Davis, 60, of Forest Hills. The New York Post reported that she also used the screen name Wenne Alton Davis and had credits in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Blindspot, Rescue Me, The Normal Heart and New Amsterdam.
The Post also reported that Davis worked as a Customs and Border Protection agent at JFK International Airport. A family member called her death an unimaginable loss in a Facebook memorial, according to the Post.
Police later brought a failure-to-yield charge
The official crash record lists failure to yield right of way as a contributing factor for the driver. It also records that Davis was crossing with the signal.
Initial press reports said the 61-year-old driver stayed at the scene and had not been arrested or charged. In March 2026, the New York Post reported that police identified the driver as MD Abdul Shomuz, then 62, and charged him with misdemeanor failure to yield to a pedestrian.
The crash happened on a Broadway corridor with repeated harm
The fatal collision occurred at West 53rd Street and Broadway in Midtown Manhattan. CrashCountNYC location data for Broadway in Manhattan shows 4,156 crashes, 2,263 injuries, 188 serious injuries and 7 deaths from 2022 through June 1, 2026.
That broader Broadway record places the intersection in a corridor where pedestrian exposure, turning traffic and dense Midtown activity coincide with a long pattern of reported traffic harm.