Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is a New York Plaintiff's personal injury law firm specializing in automobile accidents, construction accidents, medical malpractice, products liability, police misconduct and all types of New York personal injury litigation.

Articles Posted in Personal Injury

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dementia-595638_960_720A New York City nursing home security guard punched an 83 year old woman suffering from Alzheimer’s in the face. 55 year old Michael Adagba was working as a security guard at the Vanderbilt Nursing Home on Castleton Ave. in Tompkinsville, Staten Island last Friday. Around 7:30 p.m. an 83 year old Alzheimer’s patient tried to exit the building.  Exit seeking is a type of wandering that is common among patients suffering from Alzheimer’s. Often the patient is trying to return to a secure place, a home, a family or a workplace. Nursing home staff including security guards are taught to address this type of wandering in a peaceful way . They are supposed to be trained to talk to wandering patients in a friendly way, to make them feel secure.   The Alzheimer’s Association recommends that staff  listen to the reasons why a patient wants to exit and not contradict him or her but propose to go out a little later and then find a way to distract the patient. It seems like Michael Adagba didn’t have much training or experience in working with Alzheimer’s patients. So instead of trying to calm down the 83 year old patient and talking to her in a friendly way, he just punched her in the face. The poor woman suffered swelling and bruises on her face, head and body . Micheal Adagba is facing charges of felony and misdemeanor assault and harassment.

Read more in the NY Daily News

Picture: courtesy of Pixabay

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NYPD3 NYPD officers were injured in a car crash in New York City. The three cops were driving in an unmarked car on  Linden Blvd. near Sutphin Blvd. in South Jamaica, Queens. They were responding to a shooting and they had the lights and sirens on. On a nearby street 25 year old Edward Howard was driving his car while smoking a joint. He made a left turn on Linden Blvd at the same time the police car was crossing the intersection and he T-boned the police car.

The impact was so strong that the police car  careened into another parked car. The 3 cops  suffered personal injury  and were transported to the hospital. The stoned driver had watery eyes and an unfinished joint was found in the car’s cup holder.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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A pedestrian died, a bicyclist was  critically injured and two drivers suffered personal injury in a car accident in New York City. The accident  occurred last Thursday in Queens.  56 year old Irene Lee was driving her Porsche on Horace Harding Expressway service road near the Intersection of Junction Boulevard. She lost control of her car and jumped the curb, hitting a pedestrian and a bicyclist.  She then fled the scene of the accident and hit two other cars waiting at a nearby red light. She then fled away one more time and drove North on Junction. She later had second thoughts and returned to the scene of the accident. The pedestrian, the bicyclist and one of the car drivers were transported to the hospital. The other  car driver  suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene of the crash. The pedestrian, a 21-year-old woman, suffered severe head trauma  and died from her injuries. The bicyclist, a 26 year old woman, was in critical condition.  The driver was in stable condition. Irene Lee was arrested and charged with running a red light and leaving the scene of the accident resulting in death which is a class D felony.

Read in the Gothamist  

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Pit_Bull_Red_Nose-Tyson5 people were injured in two separate pit bull attacks in New York City during the week-end. In the first incident a nine year old daughter and her mom where attacked in a housing development in Harlem. The pit bull broke free from his owner. He seriously bit both the mother and the daughter as well as a policeman and a NYCHA worker who came to the rescue. The dog was killed by the police. The mother and the daughter were transported to the hospital to be treated.

In the  second incident, a pit bull belonging to a panhandler bit a three year old girl in the face in front of a commercial center in Elmhurst, Queens. The young girl needed 17 stitches.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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central parkA teenager was seriously injured after he walked on a “homemade” bomb in  Central Park, New York City. 18 year old Connor Golden from Virginia was visiting New York with two friends. They were walking in Central Park when Connor stepped on the device. His leg was so badly injured that doctors had to amputate it just below the knee. His family is devastated. The college student had come to the city for the 4th of July festivities.

The police said that the explosives was left in a plastic bag in the park and seemed to have been fabricated at home by an amateur. Forensic tests are now being done to determine what type of explosives were used. The results should be known tomorrow.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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brOn Wednesday our Partner, Ben Rubinowitz, lectured to more than 60 Assistant District Attorneys from the Nassau County District Attorneys office. Ben was asked to teach Cross Examination skills to the ADA’s based on his experience and success in the Courtroom. “I felt honored to be asked to teach cross examination skills to the ADA’s. I started out as a prosecutor and know first hand the challenges that these ADA’s face each day. I have used those same skills that I learned as an Assistant DA to prosecute those who cause injury or death to our clients.” In his lecture, Ben stressed the importance of focusing on every aspect of trial with an eye toward strengthening the argument for summation. He stressed the importance of presenting a fair and honest case, methods of dealing with non-responsive witnesses and how to dissect a witness who tells less than the truth. Following Ben’s presentation the Director of Training commented that the Assistants enjoyed the presentation so much that they immediately requested an additional presentation by Ben.

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A defectively designed gear-shifting control in some previously recalled 2014 and 2015 Fiat Chrysler Jeep Cherokee models caused 266 crashes and 68 injuries according to a report that was recently published by the National Highway  Traffic Safety Administration.  The report doesn’t mention any deaths despite the fact that Star Treck actor Anton Yelchin was killed on June 19 after his 2015  Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled backward and  fatally pinned him against a wall. According to the report, rollaway crashes are prone to happen with these types of gear-shifting controls because they are confusing for the driver. Most reported cases involved drivers who believed they were in the Park  position and exited the car. Read more in the Claims Journal

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fdny14 people suffered personal injury after a fire truck struck a MTA bus in NYC.  The accident occurred Sunday in Astoria, Queens, NYC at the corner of Ditmars Blvd and 21st Street. A little bit after noon the fire truck  was heading down Ditmars Boulevard to respond to a blaze nearby. Sirens and emergency lights were on.  According to the NY Daily News, the truck passed a red light and  collided with the bus that had the green light and was crossing on 21st St.  Witnesses  said the crash sounded like a bomb.  The impact was so strong that the bus careened into two other parked cars and jumped the curb  before finally stopping two steps away from people sitting at an outdoor cafe. 12 bus passengers were injured and transported to the hospital.  Two firefighters were injured as well and also transported to the hospital.

Later on during the day  another fire truck collided with a car two blocks away.  One person suffered minor injury. The fire truck  also had emergency lights on when the accident happened.

Last year there were 382 fire truck accidents in NYC.

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An elderly woman that caused a 10-car crash in New York City last Sunday died from her injuries on Tuesday. 78 year old Barbara Capone was driving her car on Travis Ave in Staten Island when she hit a car. She didn’t stop. Instead she sped up and crashed into several other vehicles waiting at a red light at the intersection of Travis Ave and Victory Blvd.  The impact was so strong that her car went airborne and landed on other vehicles waiting at the intersection. A 75 year old man was pinned inside his car and died at the scene of the accident. 10 other people were injured in the car crash including Barbara Capone and were transported to the hospital. Capone suffered severe head trauma and passed away two days later.

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Underride truck accidentUnderride truck accidents are among the most horrific traffic accidents.  They usually involved a car sliding under a truck, most often a tractor trailer truck.  These accidents are often deadly and gruesome. In many cases, pieces of metal from the truck intrude into the vehicle causing passengers severe  head trauma or decapitation.

Regulations requiring rear impact guards on most large trucks exist but they are 20 years old and in need of a serious upgrade.  Therefore a few months ago the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration  (NHTSA) proposed a new rule to update the Federal motor vehicle safety standards that address rear underride protection in crashes into trailers and semitrailers.

The NTHSA proposal requires that the impact guard be strengthened so that it doesn’t deform if a car crashes into it at a speed of 35 mph. This is basically the equivalent of the actual Canadian standards which are themselves 10 years old. 90%  of American trucks already conform to these standards. Many of them even have protective equipment that is superior to the Canadian standards. Therefore the NHTSA proposal seems obsolete before even being launched and it will not do much to reduce the actual number of deaths and injuries related to underride truck accidents.