PHOENIX — A deadly wrong-way crash in Tempe over the weekend claimed the life of a father and a rideshare driver. ABC15 has learned he is the second person to die in that crash early Sunday.
Abu Sayed Bin Abuya spent much of his time surrounded by family.
“My dad used to hold like parties, the family used to come,” Marsumah, Abuya’s daughter, said.
That large family is now joining together in grief, after the 38-year-old and father of four died in the wrong-way crash.
“The coolest uncle that I could have, because I have the best memory with him when I went fishing with him always on weekends. Now that he's gone, I don't know what to do anymore,” Sulaiman Hussin, Abuya’s 15-year-old nephew, said.
Abuya had been a rideshare driver for a decade, his family says.
“It was Valentine's Day. He was getting a lot of customers,” Hussin said. “He was on his way back home, like to meet his family and everything.”
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The crash happened after 1 a.m. Sunday, at the transition of I-10 and SR 143 in Tempe. DPS says the wrong-way driver, 22-year-old Jake Bowen, hit Abuya’s car on a ramp to Broadway Road.
Bowen died at the scene.
The rideshare driver was taken to the hospital, where he died a few hours later.
“I just broke down,” Hussin said.
DPS suspects impairment in the crash.
“It's unfair,” Marsumah said. “He had expectations, like, to feed his family, come back home.”
Abuya leaves behind his wife and four children: Marsumah, age 20, a 14-year-old daughter, an 8-year-old son, and a 4-month-old baby girl.
“I'm sure we'll be here, giving the same love. But it's like, one love is missing. You know, her dad,” Marsumah said about the infant losing her dad.
Abuya moved to Arizona from Myanmar ten years ago, chasing a dream for his kids.
“We came to America because he wanted to see his kids reach those milestones that he couldn't,” Marsumah said.
The crash he was in was one of two wrong-way incidents in the Valley last weekend alone.
ADOT has taken steps to address the threat, like installing a thermal camera detection system and hundreds of “Wrong Way” and “Do Not Enter” signs.
Nonetheless, DPS recorded 48 wrong-way collisions in 2025, and 12 of those were fatal.
“There should be protocols to be taken,” Marsumah said. “Maybe another dad is coming from their job, trying to go home to their family. Like, who would know that that would be their last day?”
Abuya was honored with a funeral and laid to rest on Wednesday.
“He had so many like, goals in his life that he wanted to achieve. He wanted to see my sister graduate from high school. He’s seen me graduate, he was very happy. He wanted to see me graduate from college because I would be the first one to not only graduate from high school, but also go to college,” Marsumah said. “Just little goals, that as a father, he deserved to see.”
The family is now facing every milestone without him.
