On Wednesday around 11:30 p.m., a taxi cab passenger, apparently frustrated that the cab was stuck in traffic on the FDR, jumped out and was struck by a minivan. Now, the Daily News reports that the victim, Lower East Side boutique owner Mehdi Kabbaj, died from his injuries.

The taxi driver, Rejaul Karim, told the News that he picked up Kabbaj in the East Village and was taking him to West 162nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue: "When it reached E. 96th St., it hit bumper-to-bumper traffic. The car inched forward in the right lane. Without saying a word, Kabbaj suddenly unlocked the rear passenger door and hopped out of the cab without paying the $17 fare, the driver said." Kabbaj managed to climb over a median into a southbound lane—Karim had yelled, "Hey, where are you going?"—but then he was hit by a Toyota Sienna near 102nd Street.

Karim, who believes that Kabbaj was drunk, said the impact sounded like a two cars had crashed, "I don’t know why he made that decision."