Speed a factor in Bob Simon livery cab crash, cops say

Speed may have been a factor in the devastating crash that took the life of “60 Minutes” reporter Bob Simon, police sources said Thursday.

Based on the damage at the scene, investigators believe the Lincoln Town Car carrying the 73-year-old CBS veteran was traveling at a high rate of speed when it rear-ended a Mercedes-Benz on the West Side Highway Wednesday evening, sources said.

Simon, who won 27 Emmy Awards in a career spanning five decades, was on his way to a medical seminar in downtown Manhattan when the crash occurred at 6:45 p.m., the newsman’s wife, Francoise, told police.

No criminal charges have been filed against the 44-year-old driver of the livery cab, identified by police sources as Reshad Abdul Fedahi.

Simon was southbound on the West Side Highway in the back of the Town Car when Fedahi plowed into the Mercedes, which was being driven by a 23-year-old man, near W. 30th St., a police source said.

The collision sent the Town Car careening into the center divider, trapping Simon inside the car, the source said.

Simon, who was unconscious and suffered a massive head injury, had to be cut from a mangled livery cab, officials said. 

He was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital, but doctors could not save his life.

Fedahi was taken to Bellevue Hospital with injuries to his arms and legs, cops said.

Simon, a renowned war correspondent, had cheated death a number of times chasing stories in overseas conflicts, Jeff Fager, executive producer of “60 Minutes,” said Wednesday. 

“It is such a tragedy made worse because we lost him in a car accident, a man who has escaped more difficult situations than almost any journalist in modern times,” Fager said. “Bob was a reporter’s reporter.”

Fedahi’s estranged wife, Shekiba Fedahi, said she had not been in contact with her husband for some time, but said her daughter had gotten a call that he had been involved in an accident and had been taken to Bellevue Hospital.