The precise circumstances surrounding the death of a Long Island mother and teacher whose SUV ended up in a swimming pool may never be known, after her family declined an autopsy, a relative told The Post on Tuesday.
Allison Rahmani, a 40-year-old Nassau County educator, wife and mother of four, is believed to have experienced a possible medical emergency on Friday before losing control of her SUV and crashing into the backyard pool at the family home, sources familiar with the matter have said.
But any definitive answer about what led to the fatal crash is expected to remain out of reach because of the family’s Orthodox Jewish beliefs, according to a man who identified himself as a relative outside the family’s Hewlett residence.
“There is no autopsy,” the relative said. “We don’t allow autopsy. There will never be an autopsy done, so there is no cause of death. No one will ever know.”
In many Orthodox Jewish communities, burial is carried out quickly, and autopsies are often viewed as a desecration of the body. Rahmani was laid to rest on Sunday.
New York State Public Health law allows families to object to an autopsy on religious grounds, unless officials determine the procedure is required for a criminal probe or serves a clear public health purpose.
READ MORE: Harvard Professors Use AI Clones to Teach $699 Startup Course
Investigators have classified Rahmani’s death as a tragic accident, with authorities finding no indication of criminal activity and no basis to seek a court-ordered autopsy.
A comparable situation unfolded in 2024 after the death of high-profile attorney Salvatore Strazzullo, widely known as the “Night-Life Lawyer,” who was discovered dead in his parents’ Brooklyn garage in what appeared to be a suicide, with no autopsy performed.
Strazzullo, 52, was facing fraud charges at the time, and questions surfaced about his suspicious death, but his deeply religious Catholic family refused to allow an autopsy on religious grounds — leaving the city medical examiner no choice but to declare the cause of death as “undetermined.”
In Rahmani’s case, police said the mother was able to call 911 after driving into the family’s backyard swimming pool but later died in the ambulance.
She was math coordinator at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns in Rockaway.
A funeral service was held for her Sunday at Boulevard-Riverside Chapels in Hewlett.
Additional reporting by Brandon Cruz
