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 brooklyn wrongful death

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3415 Neptune Ave street viewA baby girl died in an elevator accident in New York City on Thursday.  Her mother was also injured in the accident. She was expected to survive. Last  Thursday around 10:30 am, 21 year old Aber Al-Rabahi put her 6 month old daughter Areej Ali in her stroller and headed out of her apartment for a walk. Aber Al-Rabahi and her daughter called the elevator on the 23rd floor of of the Sea Rise, a residential building located at 3415 Neptune Avenue, in Coney Island, Brooklyn. As the elevator doors opened, the mother pushed the stroller inside and walked in without  realizing that the car was stuck 6 feet below. The mother landed on the top of her daughter on the roof of the elevator. The elevator fell down eight stories where the the mom and her daughter landed on the roof. A maintenance worker who heard the mother screaming ran to the rescue. The mother and the infant were both transported to the hospital. The infant was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. The mother is expected to survive.

Neighbors told the NY Daily News that both elevators in the building were constantly having problems. On Wednesday night tenants complained that the elevator was not functioning proprely. A mechanic from Centennial Elevator Co. had arrived an hour before the accident. He was working on the elevator when the accident happened. Centennial Elevator has two open OSHA investigations . One of them is related to one of their employees who lost an arm  while repairing an elevator in New York City last May (see previous blog).

According to the Gothamist, this is the second time that someone was killed in an elevator accident at the Sea Rise Complex. In 1991, Chandler  Johnson bumped into the door of the same elevator. The door opened and Chandler fell to his death down the shaft. Since the young man died, there were 147 elevator violations in the building.

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A pedestrian was fatally hit by a car in NYC on Friday night. 28 year old Francis Perez a Sheepshead Bay resident, stepped out of his house around 8:00 pm. He went to a nearby grocery store. He bought snacks for his son and his girlfriend. On his way back, he crossed Avenue V between Ford and Coyle Street. A car hit him at high speed. He flew in the air. A witness ran and gave him CPR. It wasn’t enough. The ambulance took him to the hospital where died there from his injuries. He left behind his girlfriend, Sandra Mcillwain, and their 8 year old son Francis JR. The police are still looking for the hit and run driver who killed him. Read more in the NY Daily News.

A Google aerial picture of the location of the accident shows that there are several stores and businesses on Avenue V between Coyle Street and Ford Street. It also shows that there are no pedestrian crossings despite commercial activities.

aerial picture of Avenue V

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accident sceneAn elderly pedestrian was fatally struck by a car in New York City last week. 89 year old Wai Lee was crossing Quentin Road near Coney Island Ave in Brooklyn, NYC when she was struck by a car. The driver, an 81 year old man was trying to park when he hit the victim. The NY Daily News reported that the man was trying to park when he put the car in drive by mistake. He then accelerated and hit the victim. The woman was transported to the hospital in critical condition. She later died there from her injuries.

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drunk driving A woman died in a car accident in New York Yesterday. The accident was caused by a drunk driver. 49 year old Aissatou Diallo was travelling with her 16 year old son on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway on their way to a wedding. A relative who was traveling in front of them had a flat tire. They stopped to help him. As Aissatou was waiting next to her car, a drunk driver rear ended her car. The car careened into the mother and sent her flying off the elevated highway. After the accident, the drunk driver tried to flee the scene of the accident on foot. He was chased  by Diallo’s son who caught him and held him until the arrival of the police. Diallo’s son told the police that the driver, 43 year old Vladimir Menin, was so drunk that he couldn’t speak coherently.  Aissatou Diallo was transported to the hospital in critical condition. She later died from her injuries.

Read more in the NY Daily News

Image: courtesy of pixabay

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Brooklyn Bridge Bike LaneWith a new victim last week, the number of fatal bicycle accidents in New York City in 2016 has now reached 15. In only 8 months the number of bicyclists killed this year in New York City has reached the same number as the number of bicyclist killed during the entire year of 2015. Among these 15 bicycle accidents, 8 of them occurred in Brooklyn, 3 in the Bronx, 2 in Manhattan, 1 in Staten Island and 1 in Queens. In a recent article in the New York Time, Eli Rosenberg provides an in depth analysis of this worrisome rise of fatal bicycle accidents in Brooklyn and what is being done and could be done by the city to prevent them.

The bicycling culture in Brooklyn is the strongest of all 5 boroughs. It has the highest number of bicycle commuters of in the city. However, despite this enthusiasm for this healthy mode of transportation, Brooklyn streets are still very hazardous to bicyclists.  Despite Vision Zero efforts to make streets safer, bike lanes, especially protected bike lanes are still lacking in many areas of Brooklyn. The recent death of 35 year old Matthew Von Ohlen is proof that unprotected bike lanes are not enough to make the streets safe.   Protected bike lanes have statistically proven to reduce the number of injuries related to accidents by 20%.

As the number of people using their bikes to commute around Brooklyn continues to grow, there is an obvious need for the city to act fast in continuing to create protective bike lanes for bicycle commuters in Brooklyn. While Manhattan already has 122 miles of protected bike lanes, Brooklyn is much larger than Manhattan and yet only has 84 miles of protected bike lanes. 15 more miles are planned to be installed in 2016.  15 miles is better than nothing but still seems like very little. Large areas of South Brooklyn where 3 cyclists died this year still have no bike lanes, protected or not.  In his article Eli Rosenberg concludes that there is still a lot to do including changing the old mentality that cars rule and to protect the 18,300 Brooklyn bicyclists who commute to work daily.

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King Plaza and FlatbushA hit and run driver hit a couple crossing Flatbush Ave, killing the husband and seriously injuring the wife.  Last Thursday around  5pm Angel and Samantha Sagardia were crossing Flatbush Ave in front of the King Plaza Mall in Marine Park, Brooklyn when they were struck by a van. According to witnesses the van was speeding. He hit the woman first and then the man. The van driver didn’t slow down and continued on his way leaving the couple critically injured on the road. A side mirror from the van was also found on the street by investigators. The van was also found later on near the intersection of Rogers and Tilden Avenues in East FlatBush. The driver is still at large.  Read more in the NY Daily News

 

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57 pedestrians, 21 bicyclists and 289 motor vehicle occupants were injured in a car accident between 2010 and 2014 at the intersection of Atlantic Ave and Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn, New York City. 5 people also died in crashes at this same location between 2008 and 2016. This busy intersection is one of the most dangerous in New York City and the Department of Transportation wants to make it safer. Last week the DOT presented  a study of the actual traffic conditions at this intersection and proposals to make it safer. As of now, pedestrian crossings are extremely long, the traffic is heavy and often conflicting with pedestrians while turning. Bike lanes do no connect, taxi and buses block the traffic while dropping passengers and the sidewalk design is not appropriate. The intersection is very dangerous. The DOT proposes not only to redesign the intersection of of Flatbush Ave and Atlantic Ave but also the Flatbush Ave intersections near Hanson Place and Ashland place. Among the changes, the plan includes the addition of pedestrian islands and curb extensions to reduce the crossing distances as well some blocks being converted to pedestrian areas and new signalization. The complete study can be downloaded here

Dangerous Intersection NYC

Picture courtesy of Google Map

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imageA drunk off duty cop killed a pedestrian and injured 3 others in Brooklyn, NYC, Sunday around 3:00 am.  21 year old Andrew Esquivel (photo ), a MIT student interning in New York for the summer , was walking home when he was hit by an out of control car that jumped the curb. Another man and two other women were seriously injured in the accident. The driver of the car was off duty NYPD Officer Nicholas Batka who was allegedly drunk but refused a breathalyzer test. He was charged with vehicular manslaughter, three counts of assault, driving while intoxicated, driving with impaired ability and driving on a sidewalk. Read more in the NY Daily News 

 

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HitRun2A bicyclist was fatally hit by a car that didn’t stop after an accident  last Saturday in Brooklyn, NYC. The police believe that the driver hit the bicyclist intentionally.  35-year-old Matthew Von Olen was riding back home from a shift at a bar in downtown Manhattan when he was struck by a car in Williamsburg.  A video obtained by the police  shows that the driver intentionally hit the bicyclist and killed him.  The car driver first slowed down at the level of the bicyclist who was riding in the bike lane and then hit him. As Von Olen fell off his bike, the car driver hit him a second time and then ran over him and dragged him about 20 to 30 feet before fleeing. Von Olen suffered severe trauma and died from his injuries. The police are still looking for the car driver who was driving a black 2014-2015 Chevy Camaro with gold New York State license plates (see picture from surveillance camera).  Read more in the Gothamist

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NYC motorcycle accidents February 2016A motorcyclist died in an accident in Brooklyn, NYC, this weekend. The motorcyclist was heading north on Buffalo Ave. near E. New York Ave. in Crown Heights early Sunday morning when he struck a limo. He was rushed to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved.

Motorcycle accidents in New York City always increase during the months of June, July, August and September. There are usually between 250 and 350 motorcycle accidents every month of the summer in the city. Because motorcyclists only have a helmet to protect themselves, motorcycle accidents often results in serious injuries or death.

Read more in the NY  Daily News