Truck Accidents

Published on: April 28, 2018

Man killed in truck hit and run bicycle accident in the Bronx, NYC

A cyclist died after he was hit by a truck that never stopped. The accident occurred at the intersection of Webster Ave and the ramp of the Cross Bronx Expressway in the Tremont section of the Bronx. The bicyclist was riding to the right side of a white box truck when the truck made a right turn to get on the expressway ramp. The truck hit the cyclist but never stopped. He just continued on his way onto the ramp and headed south toward I-95 New Jersey. According to witnesses the cyclist who was in his twenties was knocked off his bicycle. He was rushed to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved. He died there from his injuries.

Sparse and dangerous unprotected bike lanes offer little protection to Bronx Bicyclists

Too little is being done in the Bronx to prevent bicycle accidents. Webster Avenue was redesigned in 2012 to implement “Select Bus Service” but bike lanes implementation were not part of this re-design.

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Published on: March 6, 2018

Pedestrian dies in New York truck accident

By GGCRBHS&M

An 83-year-old man died after being hit by a pick-up truck in Manhattan. The pedestrian identified as Gilbert DiBernardo was killed in front of his apartment building in KipsBay. The collision occurred Friday afternoon around 4:00 pm. The man was in the crosswalk located on Second Avenue and was almost across the street when according to the NY Daily News the light turned green for the cars. He was struck by a Chevrolet Silverado driven by a 53 year old driver. The driver told the police that he braked but wasn’t able to stop his truck in time. The pedestrian was transported to the hospital with a massive head injury. He died the following day.

Another man died in a truck accident on Tuesday morning. 48 year old John P. Riofrio was driving his truck on I 287 near White Plains when he collided with another vehicle. He lost control of his truck and skidded off the road. The truck flipped over the guardrail and landed in a small stream. The driver died at the scene of the accident. Two passengers suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene of the accident. Read more in the Lohud

Published on: March 2, 2018

Alcohol suspected in deadly New York crash

By GGCRBHS&M

The passenger of a car died after the driver crashed into the back of a truck in New York. The accident occurred early Tuesday morning on Frederick Douglas Blvd near the intersection of 129th Street in Harlem. A 35 year old woman driving a Mercedes crashed into the back of a milk truck that was double parked. The impact was so strong that the car then crossed over the entire boulevard and crashed into a tree. Paramedics who arrived on the scene of the accident, rushed the two car occupants to the hospital. The passenger, identified as 33 year old Angel Campana died from his injury. The driver only suffered minor injuries to her face. She was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

Read more in The Patch

Published on: February 28, 2018

Trucker who was online shopping just before fatal accident pleads guilty

By GGCRBHS&M

Last June a Rochester professor was killed in a NY truck accident on Interstate 90. Just before the accident the driver was allegedly shopping online while driving at 70 mph in a construction area. The driver identified as 27 year old Kristofer Gregorek pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter. He is facing up to 15 years in prison. He will be sentenced at the end of June.

The victim, 45 year old Ellen Volpe was driving to work when she was rear ended by the truck. Volpe was an assistant professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo’s School of Nursing. She died at the scene of the accident. A third car was involved in the accident. The driver was injured but survived.

Volpe left behind her a husband and two young sons.

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Published on: February 27, 2018

Alcohol suspected in NYC truck accident

By GGCRBHS&M

An alleged drunk truck driver crashed into the car of a pizza deliveryman in Brooklyn, NYC. Thankfully the deliveryman had gotten out of his car seconds before the crash. The accident occurred around 3:30 am last Thursday morning in Williamsburg. The deliveryman had just parked his car on Borinquen Place near Rodney Street. As he just exited it, a white box truck slammed into it. The truck driver who was allegedly drunk previously struck a fence at Public School 319 on Rodney Street and was speeding away from this first accident. He then struck the car, took down a tree and ended into a scaffolding structure causing it to partially collapse. Read more in the NY Daily News

Published on: January 31, 2018

Our New York Personal Injury Lawyers are representing 20 victims of the recent terror attack by a truck driver on a bicycle path

By GGCRBHS&M

Our partner, NYC Personal Injury Attorney Howard Hershenhorn and his team including Christopher Donadio and Anthony Gair have filed notices of claim against the City of New York, the Hudson River Park Trust and the State of New York for more than $600 million on behalf of 20 individuals who were either fatally struck or injured during the terror attack that occurred on October 31, 2017. The attack occurred on the Hudson River Greenway, a popular Manhattan bike path along the Hudson River. Our personal injury law firm represents the families of 7 of the 8 bicyclists who were killed by the terrorist, as well as 13 individuals who were injured. Our clients include families and individuals from Argentina, Belgium and New York.

Our New York personal injury lawyers believe that authorities failed to “to implement measures and precautions to prevent vehicles from intentionally entering the bicycle path despite the fact that it was foreseeable”. It was foreseeable, based on various prior incidents, including the death of Eric Ng who was killed by a driver on the same bike path in 2006. In addition, following Mr. Ng’s death, multiple studies have shown that necessary precautions were needed to prevent motor vehicles from driving on the Hudson River Greenway bike path. Also, for the past ten years, safety advocates have been asking for the installations of steel bollards and other safety measures to prevent cars and other motor vehicles from driving on the bike lane. The City of New York, Hudson River Park Trust and State of New York were presented with detailed plans to prevent collisions between cars and cyclists on the bike path. Unfortunately, no action was taken.

In 2010, the Department of Homeland Security, in light of concerns that terrorist groups using vehicles to ram innocent people, issued a warning to the City of New York and State of New York about the need to secure public pedestrian and public bicycle areas from motor vehicles. Again, despite this warning, no action was taken.

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Published on: January 30, 2018

NYC Truck accident caused by naked driver on meth

By GGCRBHS&M

A woman was injured in a truck accident in NYC after the driver of the truck, naked and high on meth, crashed into her car. 38 year old Stephen Walker had spent Saturday night inside his box truck on a parking lot doing meth and having sex with his lover. In the morning the pair was caught naked by a jealous boyfriend. The couple sped away with the box truck to escape the angry boyfriend. Both men in the box truck were naked from the waist down. As they were escaping, the driver still high on meth rear-ended a car on Old Rockaway Blvd. and North Boundary Lane in Springfield Gardens, Queens. The truck careened off the road and crashed through a fence.

Walker who was driving the truck first ran away and hid from the first respondents in an empty horse trailer at a nearby animal shelter. However a few minutes later, consumed by remorse, he returned half naked to the scene of the accident to let the responding officer know that his lover was stuck in the truck. First responders were able to use “jaws of life” to cut though the truck door and liberate the half naked lover. The two men as well as the woman who was driving the car were transported to the hospital. The woman suffered neck and back injuries.

The truck driver was charged with with reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, drug possession, driving under the influence of drugs and obstructing government administration.

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Published on: January 28, 2018

3 pedestrians injured in postal truck accident

By GGCRBHS&M

3 pedestrians were seriously injured in an accident in New York wednesday morning around 10:00. They were struck and rolled over by a postal truck backing up in the crosswalk. The USPS truck was parked on First Ave just in front of the crosswalk at the intersection of 37th Street. As pedestrians were crossing the street, the driver backed up into the crosswalk and struck three of them. The driver continued to back up and rolled over them without realizing what just happened. According to the NY Daily News, the driver didn’t see the pedestrians because they were in his blind spot. He kept on rolling over them because he thought there was a bump on the road.

The 3 pedestrians were rushed to the hospital. They were in a lot of pain but all 3 of them were conscious. The driver of the truck remained at the scene of the accident and was given a summons by the police.

Published on: December 9, 2017

NYC traffic accident injuries at their highest, deaths at their lowest

By GGCRBHS&M

15 people died and 5,450 were injured in 19,983 auto accidents in New York City in October. October is usually a bad month for car accidents in the city. As shown in the graphs below the total number of accidents was above the trend line in October. The monthly number of traffic injuries was also the second highest number ever recorded in the city. The highest number of crash injuries was 5,557 last May. While the total number of crashes and related injuries have been steadily growing over the years, the number of people dying in crashes declined since 2013 when Vision Zero was launched. The number of people dying in car accidents went from 35 in October 2013 to 25 in October 2014, 26 in October 2015, 14 in October 2016 and 15 this last October. In 4 years fatal crashes declined by more than 50%. Additionally for the last two years the number of traffic deaths was below the trend line for the month of October while in the past it was always above it during this specific month.

Despite all the Vision Zero efforts, crash injuries are on a rising trend. Since last May their monthly number stayed above 5,000. Motorist injuries are the main cause of this rising trend. While in October 2013 motorist injuries accounted for less than a third of the total number of injuries, four years later they account for almost half of them. On the other hand, passenger injuries have been declining over the last four years. Distracted driving is suspected to be a factor. When drivers are alone in their cars they maybe more tempted to use their electronic equipment than when they travel with passengers.

The number of monthly deadly crashes in New York City stayed below 25 for more than a year. It is the first time that the number of monthly fatal accidents stayed below 25 for that long. The highest number was 24 in June followed by 22 in September. The last time this number was above 25 was in June, 2016 when 29 people died in car accidents in the city. The city speed reduction from 30 mph to 25 mph may have been a factor in the recent decrease in fatal crashes.

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Published on: November 17, 2017

Bicyclist seriously injured after being hit by dump truck

By GGCRBHS&M

A cyclist suffered serious personal injury after she was struck by a dump truck in New York on Wednesday night. The bicyclist, a 50 year old registered nurse was riding her bike on Ridge Street in the Lower East Side when she was run over by the truck. The dump truck, a dump Master 10-wheeler was making a right turn from Stanton Street onto Ridge Street when it hit the cyclist. According to the NY Daily News, the victim was run over by the truck’s front wheels. A medical student who was visiting from Dallas heard the noise of the crash and the nurse screaming. He ran to the rescue. Both her legs were stuck under the wheel but she was still conscious. The medical student identified as Sam Ahn stayed with the victim and comforted her until the emergency crew arrived. She was rushed to the hospital in serious condition. She may loose a leg according to the police. The truck driver, 45 year old Juan Cosme, stayed at the scene of the accident. The police found out that he was driving with a suspended license. They took him into custody and charged him with driving with a suspended license.

Picture: location of the bicycle accident, courtesy of Google Map