Photograph by Phil Ritz on Flickr
Last month, an out-of-control car jumped the curb outside the State Supreme Court and injured a six people, including coffee vendor Jaweed "Joe" Naseri. Naseri was in his coffee cart at the time and said at the time, "All of a sudden there was a very deep impact and I rolled over two or three times in the cart. At one point I said my prayers. I thought it was over."
Naseri, who suffered serious burns and a broken nose, recently went back to his cart to see his regulars, and the NY Times witnessed the warm welcome from customers. He does not have insurance is out thousands of dollars from repairs to his cart and his medical costs, but the chief of police at the courthouse has collected over a $1,000 from loyal customers.
The 26-year-old would wake up at 2 a.m. to head from his home in Queens to the supplier in Brooklyn in order to be at the courthouse by 4 a.m., prompting one customer to say, "He’s a good person and good human being, and someone to even look up to.”
Naseri, now walking with a limp, says he won't be able to return to work full-time for a few more months (his brother is filling in). The driver who hit him, Lorenzo Bello, allegedly had a seizure, but had been driving with a suspended license. Bello was charged with reckless endangerment and vehicular assault--plus driving without a license-- and has a May 19 court appearance.
