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 personal injury

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An 88-year-old woman died and her husband were critically injured in a fire that erupted in their apartment in Harlem.  Firefighters rushed to a fire alert at their apartment located at 70 LaSalle Street near Amsterdam Avenue in Morningside Heights, NYC. They found the couple inside and rushed them to the hospital. Unfortunately the wife didn’t survive. The husband is still in critical condition. The couple’s apartment was located at the 15th floor of the building. The cause of the fire is still being investigated. Read more in the NY Daily News

In New York City, seniors have a higher risk of dying in home fires than the rest of the population. According to statistics from the New York City Fire Department , smoking is the leading cause of fire deaths in the homes of adults who are 65-years-old and older. Heating equipment is the second cause of  fatal fires at seniors apartments followed by cooking equipment and electrical.

Leading Causes of fire Death for elderly in NYC
Elderly people who are smoking have a much higher risk to be the victim of a residential fire than those who are not smoking. The FDNY recommends elderly people who are smoking:

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location opf the construction accident at 688 Broadway3 construction workers were injured after a steel beam fell 12 stories on a Manhattan construction site last week. The 3 workers were working on a high-end condo development at 688 Broadway in Noho (see picture). The  condo is also marketed as “1 Great Jones Alley”. The 3 workers were hoisting a beam when it suddenly fell. The beam first hit the sidewalk shed and then fell to the ground where the workers were located.  One of them was hit in the head by the beam and was transported by ambulance to the hospital. The two others suffered minor injuries.  The NYC Department of Buildings put a stop work order on the property and issued five violations including failure to safeguard the site. The developer of the site is Madison Realty Capital.

Read more in DNA Info
Picture: courtesy of Google Map

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Kelly Hurley, The 31 year old woman who was critically injured in a bicycle accident in New York (see previous blog) didn’t survive her injury. She was taken off life support a few days ago and passed away.

Kelly was heading North on First Ave in Manhattan when a truck making a left turn onto East 9th Street hit her. She had the right of way. Despite violating the right of way law, NYPD announced today that they only issued a summons to the driver for “not having a cross over mirror”. The police also blamed the victim and said that “the victim sadly slipped off her bike”. (see DNA info)

The police were observed ticketing bicyclists one block away from the fatal accident scene.  (see the Gothamist)

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the truck was making a left turn onto 9th Ave when he hit the bicyclist A bicyclist was hit by a box truck in New York yesterday morning.

The 31 year old woman was riding her bike on East 9th Street around 7:20 am. As she was crossing First Ave she was hit by a box truck.

The box truck was making a left turn from First Ave onto 9th Street when he struck the bicyclist. The woman was pinned under the back wheel of the driver’s side. Witnesses heard her say “I can’t move, I can’t breath”.  Shortly after, emergency responders arrived. They lifted the truck to free the victim. She was transported to the hospital in critical condition.

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accident scene1 person died and two people were injured in a truck accident in New York early Monday morning.  Around 2:20 am, 23 year old Sandhu Simranjeet Singh from Durham, NC was driving a tractor-trailer, heading west on the Cross Bronx Expressway. As he was near the George Washington Bridge he lost control of his truck and slammed into a car. He then fled the scene of the accident leaving behind him 3 critically injured people. The reckless drunk truck driver was later caught by the police near the Vince Lombardi Rest Stop. He was arrested and charged with drunk driving.  The 3 occupants of the car had to be pulled out of the mangled vehicle by the emergency responders. They were transported to the hospital. The driver, 25 year old Caeser Contreras, didn’t make it and was pronounced dead at the hospital. The two other passengers who were 28 and 39 years old were in critical condition.

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A pedestrian was hit by a SUV last night on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The accident occurred around 9:10 p.m.  A 37 year old woman was crossing the intersection of E. 86th Street and York Ave. According to the police, she was 10 feet away from the crosswalk when a SUV hit her.  The pedestrian suffered leg and head trauma. A witness reported that she was bleeding extensively. She was transported to the hospital in critical condition but she is expected to survive.  The driver, a 56 year old man stayed at the scene of the accident. Read more in the NY Daily News

The winter months are usually the most dangerous months for pedestrians. Since last October more than 1,000 pedestrians were injured every month in motor vehicle accidents in New York City. According to the most recent statistics released by the NYPD, the number of pedestrians injured in car accidents in NYC last January was 1,083. This is the highest number of pedestrian injuries for a month of January since Vision Zero started in 2014. Before Vision Zero started, there were 1,107 pedestrians injured in January 2013.

Pedestrians injured in a vehicle accident in NYC by month with trendline and 3-month moving average

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A woman suffered critical personal injury after being hit by a MTA bus in New York City. The accident occurred around 9 pm last Monday. 61 year old Aurora Beauchamp was crossing E. Houston Street at Avenue D in the crosswalk  and at the green light when the bus struck her. She was transported to the hospital. Her sternum, ribs hip and pelvis were broken and she suffered internal bleeding. The bus driver was also transported to the hospital for trauma. He was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian.

It is not the first time that a pedestrian has been hit by an MTA bus at this location.  Just a few months ago, in October 2016, 73 year old Anna Colon was fatally hit by a MTA bus that was turning left from Avenue D onto East Houston.

While looking at the Twitter picture below, one can see that Monday’s accident occurred exactly in the same way: the bus was making a left turn onto East Houston as well.

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NYC DOT bike lane porposal Amstedam AvePeople riding bikes in New York City decrease their risk of being seriously injured in a bike accident by 75% when they are using a protected bike lane.  According to a 2014 DOT study, protected bike lanes have led to a decrease of 22% of pedestrian injuries and to a minor decrease of  bicycle accident injuries despite a dramatic increase in bicycle traffic in the city.  Recently a new DOT proposal to extend the Amsterdam Avenue protected bike lane with a painted bike lane above 110 street seems somewhat weak.

The Amsterdam Avenue segment that runs from 110th street to 162nd street is a busy two way 4 travel lane corridor with no bike lanes.  Columbia University, City College of New York, several senior centers as well as various commercial and residential buildings are located on this segment of Amsterdam Avenue.

Speeding, unsafe intersections and the absence of bike lanes are making the avenue unsafe for the community. Between 2010 and 2016, 4 pedestrians died on this segment of Amsterdam Avenue. Between 2010 and 2014 8 bicyclists and 28 pedestrians were severely injured.

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nypd-chaseAn elderly woman was injured in  a car accident in New York City on Tuesday. The accident was caused by two police officers who were chasing a robbery suspect. The police officers received a radio order to stop the pursuit but ignored it. They continued to chase the suspect on Graham Ave, a busy Williamsburg street in Brooklyn. During the pursuit, the suspect lost control of his vehicle on Myrtle Ave. He hit two police cars and jumped the curb. He struck a 71 year old woman on the sidewalk. The woman and two other police officers were injured and transported to the hospital. According to witnesses talking  to the NY Daily News, it’s a miracle that no other pedestrians were hurt.

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After a young bicyclist was struck by a car in New York City, the Court of Appeals held the city of New York liable for failing to install traffic calming measures in a street the city knew was dangerous. The Court of Appeals decision  is related to a crash between a bicyclist and a car that occurred back in 2004  on Gerritsen Avenue in Brooklyn, NYC.

On December 5 2004 around 6:30 pm, 12 year old Anthony Turturro was riding his bike on Gerritsen Avenue. At the time of the accident, Gerritsen Ave was a four lane avenue with two lanes of traffic going in each direction.  As he was attempting to cross the avenue at mid-block, the young boy was struck by a car. The driver, Louis Pascarella, was speeding. The police investigation established that when the crash occurred, the driver’s speed was 54 mph, 24 mph over the 30 mph speed limit at this location. Turturro suffered serious injury. The driver pleaded guilty  to assault in the second degree.

RECKLESS DRIVING AND SPEEDING