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 Bronx wrongful death

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accident sceneA 30 year old pregnant woman died in a NYC crash and a teenage girl is in a coma with serious spine injury that may prevent her from walking again. On Saturday morning, 30 year old Jennifer Parisella, a farmer from Middeltown was on her way to a farmers market in the city when she rear ended a tractor-trailer on the Major Deegan Expressway near Brook Avenue around 7:00 am. The young woman who was five months into the pregnancy of her first child died at the scene of the accident.  Her two stepchildren, 14 year old Sky Mendoza and 12 year old Orlando Mendoza were also in the van. They were sitting on the back seat. A 28 year old man who was a relative of the family was in the front passenger seat. Sky Mendoza suffered critical brain and spine injury. She is still in a coma and she might never walk again. Orlando suffered a broken collarbone and the 28 year old man injured his leg.

The police are still investigating the reason of the crash. The 42 year old truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident. He wasn’t charged.

Read more in the New York Post 

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Dusk and Darness Accident PreventionThe NYPD announced last week that A NYC pedestrian died from his injuries the day after an accident that occurred in the Bronx on November 7th around 6:30 pm.  52 year old Alvaro Gutierrez was crossing Southern  Boulevard at Elsmere Place when he was struck by a minivan.  Gutierrez who was hit in the crosswalk, flew in the air and landed on the roadway. He was transported to the hospital where he died the following day. The minivan driver wasn’t charged.

Winter is the worst season for pedestrians

Statistics show that, in New York, after daylight saving time ends, pedestrian accidents increase dramatically, especially during evening hours. The months of November to March are the deadliest for New York pedestrians. To boost awareness about this situation and encourage drivers to drive safely the city has been deploying its ‘Dusk And Darkness’ Vision Zero Safety Initiative for the third consecutive year.

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An 18 year old driver died and his 22 year old female passenger is in critical condition following a terrible crash in the Bronx, NYC. The teenager was driving his car on the Hutchinson Parkway in the Bronx around 2:30 am on Monday. As he was near the New England Thruway he sideswiped a BMW with his Subaru and then crashed into a tree. His car was completely mangled. He and his passenger were both transported to the hospital. He was declared dead when he arrived. The passenger was listed in critical condition.

Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of deaths for teenagers in America in front of suicide, homicide and cancer. Every year around 3000 teenagers are killed in car accidents and thousands more are injured . According to statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 16 to 19 year old drivers are 3 times more likely to die in a car accident than drivers 20-year-old and above. 2/3 of the teens who are killed in car accidents are boys. Distracted driving and underage drinking are often a factor.

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Sanitation Salvage, one of the biggest New York trash haulers has a history of fatal accidents. The company was all over the news recently after one of their truck drivers killed two people in less than 6 months and lied about one of the person he killed pretending it was a homeless man while it was an off-the book worker.

Propublica and Voice of America took an in depth look at how the company is running its business and they recently published the result of their investigation.

Ruthless brothers

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ocation of the fatal bus accidentA 7 year old boy on a scooter was fatally struck by a bus in New York City.

The accident occurred Saturday afternoon in the Bronx. 7 year old Shevon Bethea was riding his scooter when a MTA bus  driving south on Webster Ave hit him near the 184th Street intersection. Shevo who lived in Brownsville, Brooklyn, was visiting his dad in Fordham Heights, Bronx. According to his mother, Shevon was a straight A’s Student with a loving and caring personality. “He was always happy” she said.

Shevon’s brother, 10 year old DiShawn , witnessed the accident and he is completely traumatized. According to him, the bus driver ran a red light and dragged the young boy for a block.

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In a previous post we mentioned that a pedestrian was fatally struck by a garbage truck belonging to Sanitation Salvage two weeks ago in the Bronx. Leon Clark, a man in his 70ies who was living in Adams Houses was walking on E. 152nd St. near Jackson Ave in Morrisiana when he was fatally struck by a private garbage truck driven by 33 year old Sean Spence. It is the second time in less than 6 months that Spence killed a pedestrian while driving his truck.

On November 7, Spence was driving his truck when he fatally ran over 21 year old Mouctar Diallo, an off-the books employee who was helping him. Diallo was standing on the the steps leading to the passenger’s door when he lost  his grip,  fell under the truck’s rear wheels and died. Spence initially lied to the police and claimed that the victim was a crazy homeless man who tried to jumped on the side of his truck.

Sanitation Salvage has a history of safety violations

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A young pedestrian died after being struck by a van on a Bronx sidewalk in New York City. 8 year old Cellou Diallo was part of a group of children that just came out of a van  that had parked on East 125th Street in Williamsbridge . As they were on the sidewalk with the driver, one of the kids noticed that one of the van’s wheels was on the curb. The driver asked the kids to wait on the sidewalk while she got back in the car and tried to proprely park. As she was maneuvering, she lost control of the vehicle while backing up and pinned 8 year old Cellou Diallo against the wall of the adjacent building. She got out of the vehicle screaming  “I killed a mother’s baby, I killed someone’s baby.”She was devastated and crying. The other children were horrified. The woman was a close friend and neighbors of Cellou’s parents. The two families would take turns driving the kids to after school programs. Cellou Diallo came from the same family as Amadou Diallo who was wrongfully killed by the NYPD. Our firm represented his mother.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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location of truck and bicycle accident on Webster AveA 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 lanesSouth Bike Lane Gand Concourse implementation were not part of this re-design.

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Two people died and 9 were injured in a fire accident in New York City. The fire started on the first floor of a building located on Hoffman Street near 87th Street in Belmont, Bronx around 1:30 am on Monday morning. After the fire broke out in one of the apartments on the first floor, tenants ran away without closing the door behind them to prevent flames from spreading. The fire quickly engulfed the rest of the building trapping residents on the second floor.  The scene was extremely chaotic as firefighters had to fight the flames to make their way upstairs to save the residents. 11 of them including a 7 year old girl were transported to the hospital, some with critical burn injuries. Two of them died shortly after.

Last December a similar fire accident occurred in the same neighborhood killing 13 people. The fire propagated in a similar manner in the building after a door was left opened by tenants as they were escaping their burning apartment. (Read previous post).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9zX2HV5k7o

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 epilepsyA New York taxi driver who fatally struck two pedestrians in the Bronx after he stopped taking his epilepsy medication pled guilty to one count of assault, a class D felony, and two counts of homicide. On March 20 2015, Emilio Garcia who had been off his epilepsy medications for 3 months, lost control of his taxi and fatally struck 5 year old Tierre Clark and 25 year old Kadeem Brown on the Grand Concourse near 170th Street in the Bronx. Several pedestrians were also injured during the crash. The accident occurred 3 months after a previous collision during which Garcia injured another driver in New York City. Drivers who, like Garcia, are affected by a medical condition that can affect driving, such as epilepsy, are supposed to report their condition to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Garcia never disclosed his condition. Not even at the time of the first accident. He just continued to drive despite knowing that his negligent behavior was putting road users at risks of dangerous accidents. The Taxi and Limousine Commission also failed to prevent Garcia from continuing to drive after the first accident. The taxi driver is expected to be sentenced in December.

Epilepsy is a serious condition that can be treated. Anyone suffering from this condition and driving a vehicle has to be medicated. Unfortunately Garcia is not the first driver who got off his meds and ended up killing pedestrians in New York City.  In 2015 in the Bronx,  a man who didn’t take his medications had a seizure behind the wheel and killed a 10 year old girl, her grand father and another man. He was charged with manslaughter.  In 2008 a garbage truck driver who was off his meds killed two people after loosing control of his truck. He was convicted of murder.

Picture: Courtesy of Pixabay