Taxi Driver in New York Discovers 'Drunk' Passenger Was Actually Dead

A taxi driver in New York City reportedly gave a woman he was told was "drunk" a ride in the early hours of the morning this week and later discovered she was dead.

The unidentified taxi driver reportedly was hailed by an individual early Tuesday morning. The person then placed the woman into the back of the vehicle, New York Post first reported. The unidentified person told the driver the woman was intoxicated and instructed him to take her to an address in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, the newspaper reported.

When the taxi arrived at the address, a friend came to the cab to help the woman from the vehicle. But the friend realized the woman was unconscious. The driver then took the woman and her friend to New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Police told the Post that the woman was pronounced dead at the hospital just before 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the New York Police Department (NYPD) told Newsweek that officers first responded around 5 a.m. on Wednesday.

"Police responded to a 911 call of an aide at New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Queens, within the confines of the 109 Precinct. Upon arrival, officers were informed that an unidentified female in her 30s was pronounced deceased. The investigation is ongoing. The medical examiner will determine the cause of death," the spokesperson said.

Police are continuing to investigate the incident. New York City's medical examiner has not yet determined the cause of death.

"The identification of the deceased is pending proper family notification," the NYPD spokesperson told Newsweek.

The person who placed the woman in the taxi has not been identified or detained for questioning, according to the Daily Mail. It's unclear whether the woman was deceased when she was placed in the cab or died in the vehicle before arriving at the hospital.

In a somewhat similar incident in July 2020, a driver for Uber delivering food found the body of a deceased man. That chilling discovery took place in Georgia's Forsyth County, as the driver attempted to deliver food to the man in the afternoon.

Police said at the time that there was no evidence of foul play in the death, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The man was identified as 66-year-old Marshal Tallant.

A month later, in August 2020, an Uber driver delivering food in Harris County, Texas, came across a man who had been fatally shot at an apartment complex, Houston TV station KHOU reported. The driver initially attempted to provide medical aid to the man but then realized he had died from his gunshot wounds. He then called the police.