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.
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Ghost bike showing locations of previous NYC deadly bicycle accidentsA cruel and reckless driver  blows a stop sign, hits a cyclist critically injuring him, drives away, comes back, takes a look at the cyclist, gets back in his car and speeds away.

The accident occurred at night last week in the Bronx. A 46 year-old cyclist was riding his bike through the intersection of Dudley and Edison Avenues in Pelham Bay when a driver blew the stop sign and slammed into him.  A video surveillance first shows the driver taking off.  He then returned to the scene of the accident, took a look at the victim who was suffering critical injury and took off again. The victim was found by EMS and rushed to the hospital. (Read more in the Daily News)

Bicycle accidents injuries in the Bronx have been on the rise during this period of the year compared to the same period last year.  According to the most recent NYPD traffic statistics, 17 people were injured in bicycle accidents in the Bronx during the week of April 5 to April 11 compared to 2 during the same week a year earlier.  Last years numbers were much lower because the city was observing the Covid19 lock-down and the streets were mostly empty. The same can be said when looking at statistics on a 4 week basis. 54 people were injured in Bronx bicycle accidents between March 14 and April 11 2021 compared to 20 for the same period a year earlier.

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Dan-and-ElisaA faulty medical determination of child abuse or neglect can destroy the life of a child and its family. “Measure twice, cut once,” is a great rule for carpenters; it’s also an important lesson for Child Protective Services. 

In a recent article, Daniel Pollack, an attorney and professor at Yeshiva University’s School of Social Work in New York City, and Elisa Reiter, a Board Certified Attorney in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, look at the recent House Bill 2536  that was recently passed in Texas.   The bill allows parents who are accused of child abuse or neglect to ask for a second medical opinion before CPS terminates their parental rights. The bill especially seeks to protect parents of special needs children.

The bill was created after the family of Drake Pardo, a special needs child,  went through an unjustified ordeal with CPS.  The drama started when the Pardo family filed a complaint against a hospital that did not take care of them proprely. In a retaliation move, a doctor at the hospital filed a complaint with Child Protective Services based on a faulty medical report. As a result, Child Services showed up at the Pardo’s door in April 2019 and immediately removed 4 year old Drake from his parents. The parents had to fight an intense legal battle and were not allowed to take their child back until October 2019.

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location of the MTA bus accident in BrooklynA NYC pedestrian died from his injuries after a light pole fell on him. The pole fell after a MTA Bus who was trying to swerve around a disabled vehicle struck it with its side mirror.

The accident occurred a week ago on Thursday night in Brooklyn. 59 year old, Lance Margolin, a stock trader for Merrill Lynch, was walking on the pedestrian mall on Eastern Parkway near the Utica Avenue train station. Margolin, his wife and some friends were heading back home after a birthday party. As they were walking, a MTA bus driving on Eastern Parkway swerved to avoid a disabled car and struck a light pole with its side mirror. The light pole crashed on the ground, right on the top of Margolin. The friends who were walking steps ahead of Margolin and his wife heard a big bang and when they turned to look at what happened, Margolin was crushed under the pole with his wife next to him. They ran to the rescue. One of the friends was able to lift the pole from the victim who suffered severe head and body trauma.

The victim never regained consciousness and died 3 days later

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the NY school where child sexual abuse took placeThe principal of an elementary school sexually abused students for years in Greece Town, Upstate New York.

51 year old, Kirk Ashton, the principal at Northwood Elementary School, in Greece Town, is accused of sexually abusing 9 boys between the age of 9 and 12 year old. Kirk has been a principal at the school since 2004 and the abuse went on for years.

The principal is facing 6 counts of first degree sexual abuse, 5 counts of second degree sexual abuse and 9 counts of endangering the welfare of a child

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Paraquat is a dangerous herbicideMultiple personal injury and product liability lawsuits have recently been filed against Syngenta, a Swiss company manufacturing the weed-killer Paraquat.

According to the lawsuits, the manufacturer omitted to mention to its customers the risk of Parkinson’s disease caused by exposure to Paraquat despite knowing about it.  Syngeta was aware that exposure to its weed-killer Paraquat increased the likelihood of getting Parkinson’s disease by two to five times but concealed it to its customers according to the lawsuits.

All plaintiffs contracted Parkinson’s disease after being exposed to Paraquat

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child in carCar accidents are one of the leading causes of  injuries and deaths for children. In the US, 636 children under 12 year old died and 97,000 were injured in car crashes in 2018.

From researching child restraint performance to analyzing teenager behavior behind the wheel and testing safety of future autonomous vehicles, the Center for Child Injury Prevention Study  has been constantly researching and advocating for better ways to protect children on the road.

Among their most recent studies,  researchers at CChIPS  have been looking at the validity of  recommendations for rear-facing Child Restraint System (CRS) using newly available real car accident injury data.

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Bike lane in front of Flor de Mayo restaurantCyclists travelling at a high rate of  speed in bike lanes crossing outdoor dining areas  in New York City are putting restaurant staff and clients at danger and a restaurant owner who tried to put speed bumps on the bike lane had the DOT remove them shortly after.

After an e-bike rider almost hit a child in front of his restaurant, Jose Chu, the owner of Flor de Mayo bought two plastic speed bumps and installed them in front of his restaurant.  Flor de Mayo is located in the Upper West Side on Amsterdam Avenue between 83rd and 84th Streets. Cyclists and e-bikes are constantly zipping through the popular bike lane with e-bikes often going 20 miles an hour near the restaurant sheds. While Shu  says speedy cyclists “are an accident waiting to happen'”,  Upper West Side cyclists were pretty quick at denouncing the speed bumps on social media and calling them “an accident waiting to happen”. A  cyclist tweeted a pic of the new bumps and mentioned that  her bike severely jolted as she rode over them. Bike advocates followed up on the tweet asking officials to remove them and the DOT got quickly involved. 24h later, a  NYC Department of Transportation employee showed up at the restaurant front door and asked Chu to remove the speed bumps. The employee mentioned that the speed bumps were illegal and caused a hazard to cyclists. He told Chu that restaurants had to use signs asking cyclists to slow down.

When interviewed by the West Side Rag, Chu said he already has signs but cyclists simply ignored them. That is why he tried a new tactic. He said he tried to go over the speed bumps with a bike and it was fine  as long as he was going slowly.

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tweet about pedestrian crushed by car in NYCOne day after a pedestrian died after being hit by a car on a Manhattan sidewalk and 5 other people were injured after a car jumped the curb in Brooklyn (see previous blog), another NYC pedestrian died  after being struck by a car jumping the curb in Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, NYC.

Volf Ferdman, a 97 year-old decorated World War II veteran and beloved grand father was killed by a 79 year-old driver last Wednesday afternoon while on his way to the bank.  The accident occurred right in front of the Apple Bank located on Brighton Beach Ave near 4th Street around 3:45 pm. Ferdman was sitting on his walker in front of the bank when the driver of a large SUV, a 2008 Cadillac Escalade who was parked in front of  him started to maneuver to get out of the parking space. As he was doing so, the 79 year old motorist lost control of the massive SUV, jumped the curb and pinned Ferdman between the front of his car and the bank’s glass window. Ferdman was still alive when emergency responders arrived but the injuries he sustained were so bad that he later passed away at the hospital. He lived just a few blocks away from the bank. An Apple Bank employee told the News that the SUV had a handicapped sticker in the windshield.

Ferdman was a beloved grandfather and great-grand father and his 46 year old granddaughter Svetlana Statsyuk told the News that her grand father was looking forward to celebrating “Victory Day” on May 9th, a former Soviet Union holiday celebrating the 1945 surrender of Nazi Germany. Ferdman was originally from Ukraine and fought  for Russia during World War II. He later immigrated to the US and choose Brighton Beach in Brooklyn as his new home. His family was his biggest joy and they loved him dearly.

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Location of the fatal pedestrian accident in Brooklyn, NYCA motorist fatally hit a pedestrian in Brooklyn, NY and took off on foot last Saturday morning around 8:00 am. The pedestrian was 52 year old Angel Aguilar-Duran, a private sanitation worker on the job. At the time of the accident, Angel was standing  in the street, guiding the driver of the garbage truck backing down on Hope Street near the Havemeyer Street intersection. As they were maneuvering, the driver of a 2005 Honda Odyssey minivan got impatient  and attempted to go around the garbage truck. She struck Angel who fell under the wheels of the minivan and dragged him under the vehicle for 50 feet.

The driver of the minivan took off on foot 

The sanitation worker was stuck under the minivan with his legs sticking out. People in the street started to run toward the minivan to help while others ran to a nearby firehouse to ask for help. The passenger got out of the minivan while the driver stayed inside and stayed silent. The passenger tried to pull the sanitation worker from under the car but people around him told him not to move him. He then picked up a car jack from the minivan and hoisted the vehicle up. Then in the weirdest move, the driver of the minivan got out of the vehicle and took off on foot. A few minutes later, the passenger did the same despite witnesses yelling at them to stay at the scene of the accident.

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apartment building that got on fire in Queens NYC21 people were injured in a massive NYC apartment fire last week.  The fire started around 1:00 pm last Tuesday in an apartment  on the 6th floor of a large building located on 34th Avenue near 89th Street  in Jackson Heights, Queens. While escaping, the resident of the apartment left the door open, allowing the fire to spread through the hallways of the building that housed 150 apartments and 90 families.

No life threatening injuries but more than 200 people displaced

Up to 350 firefighters fought for 12 hours to get the blaze under control. 16 of them were injured. Two of them suffered burns and the 14 others suffered minor injuries such as strains and sprains. Among the 5 residents who suffered injuries, 4 declined to be treated and 1 was sent to the hospital. No one was reported missing. More than 200 people living in the building lost their homes and were displaced.