Malibu Diner Staff Copes With Death of Long Time Waitress

At first glance, the scene at the on Monday morning looked the same as always. Waiters balance five plates of omelettes, pancakes and sandwiches as they walk out of the kitchen. A hostess folded napkins. Customers read the paper and asked for coffee refills.

A closer look at the staff's facial expressions, however, gives away that a tragedy happened over the weekend when long-time waitress Irina Alekseeva was fatally struck across the street from the diner.

The accident happened at 5:40 a.m. on 14th Street as Alekseeva, 27, walked out of the gas station's minimart, according to the police report. An AmCare van struck her as well as a parked New York City taxi, police said.

According to police, the driver of the van—a 28-year-old Jersey City resident—looked down at his clipboard and didn't see Alekseeva cross the street. The driver did not seem to be intoxicated and no arrest was issued, police said.

Alekseeva had worked for the for the past ten years and was one of the head waitresses of the night shift, according to Carlos Lopez, who has worked at the diner for 2,5 years.

Pictures of Alekseeva were placed behind the cashier at the diner. Customers lingered and asked the hostesses what happened on Monday morning. "Oh my gosh," one waitress subconsciously said as she passed the sign.

Lopez said he came in around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, less than an hour after the accident. He said he saw the body laying the street, covered up. "They wrapped her up and took her," he said. "After that they washed the blood off (the street)."

The diner opened later that morning, around 11 a.m., according to one of the hostesses who worked that morning.

"We were closed while the body was there," Lopez, 35, said.

Waitress Souria Badawy, who has worked for the Malibu for 30 years, also came in early Saturday morning to start her shift. She was used to releaving Alekseeva in the mornings. As Badaway, 50, walked into the diner she noticed a scene across the street, but didn't realize her colleague was the victim.

"Somebody needed help, but I didn't know it was her," Badawy said. When she found out what had happened, she continued, "I freaked out."

Badawy said that Alekseeva—a Jersey City resident but a Russian native—was "pleasant. A nice, good person."

"She was clean," Badawy added, saying that when she came into work after Alekseeva's shifts, everything would be spotless.

The two were friends, Badawy said, and would spend time at the diner.

"She was a very nice, a good worker," Badawy said. "That's why I'm sad," she continued as she picked up a coffee pot to refill a cup at the other end of the counter, "good people don't last long."