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 Wrongful Death

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location of the deadly crash on the Cross Bronx expresswayA car driver died in a fiery NYC crash that occurred in the Mount Even section of the Cross Bronx Expressway, underneath University Avenue, around 12:30 am on Monday night.

According to media, 49 year old Shelly Vilsaint from Bayonne, New Jersey, was driving her 2019 Range Rover west bound of the Cross Bronx Expressway in the middle lane when she rear-ended a tractor trailer contracted by the U.S. Postal Service.  Both drivers got out of their vehicles to talk.

The accident was a minor fender-bender for which usually the NYPD does not respond anymore but the woman insisted on waiting for the police. The driver of the truck suggested they pull over but she refused. Both got back in their vehicles and shortly after another tractor trailer rear-ended the Range Rover. The car was crushed between the two trucks and Shelly Vilsaint died at the scene of the accident.

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location of the tractor trailer truck accidentA cyclist was killed in a hit-and-run tractor trailer accident in New York City on Thanksgiving day. The victim was riding her  bike East on Liberty Avenue near the intersection of the Van Wick Expressway Service Road in Queens, NYC when she was struck by a tractor trailer truck making a left turn onto the Van Wick Expressway Service Road.

The victim, a 43 year old woman, was knocked down from her bicycle, and fell under the truck where she got trapped.  She was then dragged several feet by the truck. The truck driver never stopped. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.

The truck driver who was behind the wheel of a 2014 Kenworth T8 Series tractor trailer truck is a 48 -year old man who was later on identified by the police. The accident is still being investigated by the police. The intersection of Liberty Avenue and Van Wick Expressway is extremely dangerous, especially for people on micro mobility devices.

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construction workers have a high risk of fatalityDespite OSHA’s efforts, the death rate on construction sites in the US has not declined for the last 10 years, questioning the effectiveness of the agency.

While there is no doubt that OSHA is doing a great job developing and implementing safety standards, it does not have enough resources to proprely inspect jobsites. Additionnally fines are not only too low to dissuade bad actors but also most of the time they are not being paid and OSHA has little resources to go after those who don’t pay. Also on the top of deaths purely related to construction accidents, the opioid crisis and suicides are also taking a toll on construction workers.

For the last decade, out of every 100,000 construction workers, 10 died on the job. Among those fatalities 3 out of 5 died from what is known in the construction industry as the “Fatal Four”:

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Car are dangerous to pedestrians and cyclistsAmong rich countries, America is one of the most dangerous for road users especially pedestrians and cyclists.  In The Exceptionally American Problem of Rising Roadway Deaths, an article recently published by the New York Times,Emily Badger and  take an in-depth look at road fatalities in the US compared to other rich countries. They found out that during the Covid19 crisis, most countries in the world saw a decline in fatalities with the exception of the United States, Switzerland and Ireland.  When  comparing national traffic fatalities in 2020 to an average yearly traffic fatalities in 2017 to 2019 , Italy, Hungary, Turkey, Spain, France and Sweden all saw a decline or more than 20% in road fatalities. Italy recorded a 27% decline in traffic fatalities while the united States had a 5% rise in traffic fatalities.

While most rich countries have developed bicycle and pedestrian friendly infrastructures over the last decade, the United States did not do as much

While many countries started to take measures to protect pedestrians and cyclists such as protected bike lanes, lowering of speed limits and adopting safe vehicle technologies such as automatic braking systems, cars got bigger and deadlier in the United States.

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The dangerous NYC intersection where a pedestrian was killedA pedestrian was killed in a car accident on a dangerous street of New York City.  The accident occurred on Monday afternoon around 3Pm. 73 year old Yingqui Liu was crossing South Avenue  when he was struck by the driver of a van making a left turn from Forest Avenue in Staten Island.

According to Transportation Alternatives, while 3 people died in crashes on Forest Avenue since 2019, no major safety improvements have been made on Forest Avenue west of Morningstar Road  since Vision Zero started.

So far this year 223 people died in crashes in New York City, including 99 pedestrians. Among the victims 42 of them were 65 and older.

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70 people died in traffic accidents in New York City during the third quarter of 2022. Among the victims were 26 pedestrians, 4 cyclists, 15 motor vehicle passengers and 25 motor vehicle operators. Pedestrians and motor vehicle operators accounted for most of the deaths while passengers fatalities reached a record high.

Since Vision Zero started in 2014, auto accident fatalities gradually declined from 82 during the third quarter of 2013 to a record low of 56 fatalities during the third quarter of 2019. However, everything changed during the Covid19 crisis of 2020 when NYC streets were almost empty and speeding caused traffic fatalities to peak again and reach 77 during the third quarter of 2020. Since then, the number of fatalities during Q3 never went back below 70.

Auto accident fatalities NYC Q3 2022

While fatalities remained higher than usual, car accident injuries stayed lower than usual

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KIa-challengeAn ongoing “Kia Challenge” instructing Tiktok followers on how to steal Kia or Hyundai cars with a USB charging cord and encouraging users to post videos of their joy rides caused the deaths of 4 teenagers in Buffalo, NY.

19 year old Marcus Webster, 17 year old Swazine Swindel, 16 year old Kevin Payne and 14 year old Ahjanae Harper were passengers in a stolen Kia driven by a 16 year old boy who lost control of the car and crashed it. The four of them  died in the crash. Harper had just gave given birth to a baby daughter. The driver and another 15 year old passenger survived the accident.

The young driver has been charged with criminal possession of stolen property and unauthorized used of a vehicle. He is due to appear in court in November.

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medical malpractice attorney Allan ZelikovicOur NY personal injury law firm is proud to announce that Allan Zelikovic obtained a $1 million settlement for a delivery driver killed in Manhattan.

This medical malpractice/wrongful death case involved a 51-year-old delivery driver who presented to Wyckoff Heights Hospital with chest pain.  He was examined in the emergency room and determined to be suffering from a myocardial infarction (heart attack) and atherosclerosis. A decision was made to transfer the patient to another hospital equipped to perform coronary angiography and place percutaneous coronary artery stents to re-open the coronary arteries thereby restoring the blood flow to the heart.

The doctor ruptured the patient’s left circumflex and obtuse marginal coronary arteries during coronary artery stent placement and despite evidence of blood leaking into the pericardial sac, the doctor completed the procedure and discharged the patient to the recovery room where he suffered another heart attack

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accident sceneReckless driving was a factor in multiple deadly crashes in New York City that occurred at the end of last week.

  • The first accident occurred Friday early morning, around 2:30 am when a 23 year old driver identified as Ravinder Singh who was drunk behind the wheel killed his 29 year old passenger Harjot Singh,  in a wrong way crash on the Brooklyn-Queens-Expressway. The driver is now facing several charges including criminally negligent homicide and drunk driving. (read more in the NY Daily News)
  • A few hours later. around 6:30 am  another deadly wrong way accident occurred, involving a car and an ambulance that was transporting a victim that was previously hit by another car (see previous blog). The victim, a mother of two young children, died and several EMS members were injured and hospitalized.
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ocation of the deadly crash in Staten IslandA woman died and 4 others suffered personal injury after a car crashed into an ambulance. The accident occurred last Friday morning around 6:30 am in Westerleigh, Staten Island, NYC.

The pedestrian was first  injured after being struck by a car as she was stepping out of her home

35 year old, Maria Martinez, a mother of two children had just stepped out of her home and was walking to the bus stop when she was struck by a car while crossing Jewett Avenue. The car was a Dodge charger and the driver remained at the location of the accident and was questioned by the police. So far he has not been charged. When the emergency team arrived with the ambulance at the location of the accident, they found the victim in critical condition. Paramedics quickly got her in the ambulance they were driving down Maine Avenue in the wrong way in an attempt to reach the hospital faster and save Maria’s life. Ambulances are authorized to do so when the life of someone is endangered.