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 Tagged with New York Wrongful Death

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fatal NYC fire accidentOne person died and 13 others were injured in a  fire accident in New York. Around 3:30 am yesterday morning a fire broke out in a residential building located on E. 93rd Street between 1st Ave and 2nd Ave. The building was a five-story building with 10 apartments. 250 firefighters were called to the rescue to battle the 6-alarm blaze. Most residents were able to get out using the fire escape. A resident living on the third floor wasn’t able to make it and died in the blaze. 3 other residents were injured as well as 8 firefighters. An elderly resident was saved by a courageous firefighter who used a dangerous technique known as roof-rope rescue.  Jim Lee was lowered on a rope off the roof of the building to save an elderly resident who was screaming for help from his third floor window. The courageous firefighter grabbed the man from his window and pulled him down to safety before the rope burned through. Residents said fire alarms woke them up in the middle of the night. They smelled smoke and quickly realized they had to evacuate the building. The fire erupted on one of the top floors of the building. Further investigation will be necessary to determine what caused the blaze.

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accident sceneA reckless driver fatally backed up into a pedestrian in Manhattan. The 41 year old man was driving North on Third Ave. As he was crossing E. 71st Street, he suddenly stopped in the middle of the intersection. He then proceeded to back up toward a parking spot. As he was doing so, 83 year old Lee Strong, a Upper East Side resident, had just started to cross the street in the crosswalk. The driver didn’t see her and backed into her.  She was knocked down and suffered severe head injuries. She was transported to the hospital in critical condition. She died of her injuries one day after being admitted. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident. The police have not made a decision yet as to charge him or not.  Read more in the NY Daily News

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construction workerThe New York City Department of Buildings announced earlier this year that 12 people died in  construction accidents in New York City in 2015 but the real number is 18. According to a recent article in Crain’s, the New York City Department of Buildings only counts deaths that are related to a violation of the city’s construction code.

Despite being featured by media and investigated by OSHA, all other deaths on NYC construction sites are not counted as construction accident deaths  in the DOB statistics. This obviously doesn’t make much sense. The DOB numbers are a distorted indication of the level of safety on New York construction sites.

Among the deaths that the city didn’t count were a hard hat who fell to his death in an elevator shaft,  a safety coordinator crushed by a crane, a worker who fell from a ladder and a truck driver who was sucked into a concrete truck shaft. Following these deaths, OSHA issued safety violations for each case. However the DOB didn’t and also didn’t add them to the total number of New York City construction accident deaths in 2015.

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NYC pedestrian accident locationA pedestrian was hit by an ambulance in New York yesterday afternoon. 81 year old Gen Zhan was crossing East 14th Street and Second Ave., NYC in the crosswalk when the ambulance struck him. The ambulance was responding to a call but didn’t have its lights or sirens on. According to ABC7 the driver had a green arrow and the right of way when he made the turn. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident. The elderly pedestrian was transported to the hospital with severe body trauma. He later died from his injuries. We are having a rash of pedestrian accident in NYC.

Picture:  location of the pedestrian accident courtesy of Google Map

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central park bikingA bicyclist suffered serious head injury in an accident in Central Park, New York City. The bicyclist was riding his bike in Central Park when, according to the police, a pedestrian stepped into the crosswalk in front of him.  The bicyclist squeezed his brakes hard and swerved to avoid the pedestrian. He flew over the front of the bike and landed on his head, on the pavement, 25 to 30 feet away from the bike. He wasn’t wearing a helmet. He was transported to the hospital in critical condition. He suffered serious body and head trauma. The police didn’t tell the NY Daily News if the pedestrian had the green light but the investigation is ongoing.

Last year in a similar scenario, a bicyclist killed a pedestrian in Central Park. The pedestrian was also in the crosswalk when the accident happened. According to witnesses, the bicyclist who was riding well over the maximum speed of 25 mph swerved to avoid other pedestrians before fatally striking 59 year old Jill Tarlov, a CBS senior VP. After the accident the minimum biking speed in the park was lowered to 20 mph instead of 25 mph.

Yesterday another bicyclist died from injuries sustained in a bicycle accident in Central Park. According to Patch.com, the victim fell of her bike a month ago. 54 year old Gloria Garcia was visiting New York from Texas. She sustained a head injury and had been hospitalized since the accident which occurred on July 17th.

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La Reguera DominicanaA man died in a New York elevator accident on Saturday. Jose Fernandez, 43  from the Dominican Republic was a worker at the Discount Store La Reguera Dominicana on 182nd Street in Manhattan. The man was loading merchandise into the freight elevator in the basement when the accident happened. For some unknown reason, the freight elevator suddenly moved up and trapped his head. The Department of Buildings is investigating the cause of the accident.

The online property profile overview of the NYC Department of Buildings has no record for the elevator. The freight elevator which had no doors was installed illegally a year ago, without a permit when a previous auto repair shop was turned into a discount store.

The building has an open violation for illegal occupancy and last year 3 complaints were opened accusing the building owner of performing renovations without a valid work permit.

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methA reckless motorist who fatally struck a pedestrian and injured a few others in New York was convicted of murder. 35 year old Shaun Martin was high on Meth and PCP when in 2013 he sped down Second Avenue in Manhattan, NYC, jumped the curb and fatally hit a florist who was just coming home from his night shift. Two other pedestrians were also injured by the reckless driver. Shaun Martin is now facing life in prison. Read more in the NY Daily News

picture source: wikipedia

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Cy VanceLast year 22 year old Carlos Moncayo died in a  construction accident in New York. The young worker was crushed to death by a collapsing  wall on the site of the former Pastis restaurant in the Meatpacking district, in lower Manhattan, NYC. Prior to the accident, Harco, the contractor, had been warned by an  independent engineer  that the construction site was unsafe and that it should be closed.  The contractor refused and Carlos died. (See previous blogs here and here)

A coalition of 22  groups including District Attorney Vance and then Building Trade Employers’ Association (BTEA) are asking the judge to impose the maximum sentence on  Harco.  Harco was found guilty of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment by Judge A. Kirke Bartley.  The D.A.  Also requested that the contractor pay for an advertising campaign to promote  worker safety this fall in New York.

Read more in the Real Deal 

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Crane ReportFollowing the fatal collapse of a crane in  lower Manhattan last February, Mayor de Blasio and NYC building commissioner Rick Chandler created the Crane Safety Technical Working Group. The mission of this independent group of experts was to assess actual New York crane safety regulations and provide a set of  recommendations to improve existing regulations and limit further crane accidents in New York City. A few days ago the group released a report that includes  23 recommendations to improve crane safety in New York City.

The group noted that despite having some of the most comprehensive crane safety regulations in the world, the NYC  Department of Buildings hasn’t comprehensively revised and updated these regulations since 2008. In between technology and best practices have evolved tremendously. A new effort to update regulations was launched by the DOB  last year but nothing has been released yet. Therefore the Crane Safety Technical Working Group proposes that the Department of Buildings integrates the Crane Safety Technical Working Group recommendations with their ongoing efforts to update the existing crane regulations.

In its recommendations, the group suggests:

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Harlem River HousingA 3-year old boy died after he fell from a window in a  public housing development in Harlem, New York City.  Latyre Sene fell  from the 13th floor of a building located in the Harlem River II Houses on Frederick Douglass Blvd. near W. 151st St (picture).  The window guard was found next to him. Police are investigating why the window guard fell and didn’t protect the toddler.

Building owners have the responsibility to install and maintain window guards in any apartment where a family is living with children. Because Latyre Sene’s family was illegally subletting the apartment,  it wasn’t clear if  NYCHA who owns the building was aware that a child lived in this apartment.

On Monday, a maintenance employee was seen leaving the apartment with a drill and 3 guards in his hands. Following the tragic accident, several other residents of the building also asked for a revision of their window guards.