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 personal injury nyc

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Location of the garbage truck accident in BrooklynA private garbage truck struck and seriously injured a 78 year old woman who was crossing the street yesterday in New York City . The hauling truck that belongs to MIST Entreprise was making a left turn from East Fourth Street onto 18th Ave in Kensington, Brooklyn, when it hit the pedestrian. The accident occurred around 11:00 am. Witnesses saw the victim being pinned under the wheel of the truck. She was screaming and her leg was completely mangled.  The 78 year old woman was rushed to the hospital with serious injuries.  The driver of the truck stayed at the scene of the accident and so far hasn’t been charged.

KILLING MACHINES

The truck that crashed into the pedestrian has a history of reckless driving. According to city records, over the last two years, the truck was cited 5 times for running red lights.  Privater garbage truck haulers have a very bad reputation in New York City. Drivers are forced to drive long hours and cover large routes, making them prone to reckless driving.  Between 2010 and 2017, 43 New Yorkers died after being struck by private carting companies’garbage trucks. Organized labor believes that the Business Integrity Commission that regulates them is not doing enough to prevent this carnage. Not even a month ago another elderly resident from the Bronx was fatally struck by a private garbage truck. Police investigated the accident and discovered that the driver had previously fatally ran over a colleague with his truck 6 months before. He lied to the police about it and was still allowed to drive without being charged. (see previous blog).

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location of the bicycle accident Bay RidgeA NYC cyclist who was struck by a SUV is likely to die according to a recent article in Street Blog.  The man who’s name wasn’t released is a 29 year old black male. He was riding his bike northbound on Ridge Boulevard when he was hit by a SUV driving westbound on 73rd Street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. According to the police the driver of the SUV, a 63 year old woman, had the green light when she hit the cyclist. She wasn’t charged and the police said “No criminality was suspected”.

It is not the first time that a collision occured at this intersection. According to the Vision Zero Map One person was injured in an accident at the same intersection in 2011, another one in 2012, two in 2013, one in 2014 and one in 2016 previous to this accident.

A Bay Ridge resident told StreetBlog that the intersection was dangerous. “I’ve had a few close calls crossing here, too,” he said. “There’s a lot of racing to beat the light and a lot of failure to yield to people in the crosswalk.”

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Harleen Maggo died in a NYC fire accidentA Queens Village family who was celebrating an upcoming wedding was caught in a massive fire that quickly ravaged their house killing 3 of them and injuring many others. The house located on 211th Street and 93rd Road didn’t seem to have working smoke detectors. 32 year old Harleen Maggo (see picture), a mother of two and her parents Ragvir Kaur-Kainth, 82, and Pyara Kainth, 87  all died in the fire that erupted a little bit before midnight on Saturday night. Harleen’s two children, were also trapped in the fire but were able to be rescued by the firefighters. The 8 year old girl was in critical condition while the 6 year old boy was stable. Seven other people who were also trapped in the fire were transported to the hospital with serious injuries.  Harleen Maggo had been able to escape but she decided to go back in the house on fire to try to save her parents. She never made it back outside. The house was full of wedding guests partying when the fire started. Investigators are still trying to figure out the cause of the fire. Read more in the NY Daily News  Picture source: Facebook

No working smoke alarm either in another NYC fire that erupted 6 hours later

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Vision Zero Initiatives have helped decrease traffic accident deaths in New York City especially for pedestrians and bicyclists  but the number of people injured in auto accidents during the first three months of the year has been on a rising trend. Distracted driving is the number one cause of accidents in the city and might be a factor leading to this high number of car accident injuries.

The number of motor vehicle accidents in New York City during the first semester stayed over 50,000 for the last 3 years. During the first trimester of 2018, 52,317 accidents were reported to the NYPD. Since 2013 the number of accidents in the City has been on a steady rising trend. From 46,438 during the first trimester of 2013, they reached a peak at 53,050 in the first trimester of 2016, slightly decreasing in the first trimester of 2017 and going slightly back up this year.

Motor vehcile accidents NYC first trimester 2018
12,920 people were injured in these 52,317 accidents. This is the highest number of personal injuries related to traffic accidents in New York City during the first trimester of any year  since Vision Zero started in 2013. 11,676 were injured in accidents during the first trimester of 2013. This number went down to 10,805 during the first trimester of 2014 and continued to decline to 10,069 for the same period of 2015. After that injuries went back up to respectively 11,939 and 12,608 for the first 3 months  of 2016 and 2017.

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lead-poisoningMany children were poisoned by lead in New York as the result of the city neglecting to inspect and fix lead paint hazards in  apartments belonging to the New York City Housing Authority. Some children died and others now have to attend special-education programs and will never be able to live a normal life. Despite multiple lawsuits De Blasio was recently heard saying “Thank God there has not been harm done to any child because of the mistakes that have been made.” bFor some weird reasons the mayor is still trying to cover for the disastrous NYCHA behavior.

In a recent article the Daily News looks at the story of Juana Bison, the mother of two twin daughters who lived in Cypress Hills Houses. In 2001 after her twin daughters were born, Juana complained about the painting chipping and peeling in her apartment. She was scared that the paint might contain lead and could harm her twins. She asked NYCHA to fix it. Instead of fixing it, a NYCHA worker forged Juana’signature and signed a form indicating that Juana’s apartment had been inspected and no lead paint was found.

When the two daughters were two-yer-old the mother took them for a medical check-up that found a blood-lead level of 20 micro-grams per deciliter in one of the girls. This level is five time the level deemed acceptable by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This level is dangerous and can affect the development of a child. The other child was ok.

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Trinity Grace ChurchA NYC hard had suffered critical injury after he fell from scaffolding at a church construction site in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  The man who was employed by 4M Construction was doing brick work on the Trinity Grace Church located at 231 Ainslie Street in Williamsburg. He was on scaffolding when he fell two stories onto the sidewalk shed. The accident occurred Monday afternoon around 2pm.  The emergency responders rescued the man and rushed him to the hospital. A neighbor told the NY Daily News that he previously called 311 because he was worried about the unsafe conditions at the construction site.

Read more in the NY Daily News

Picture of the accident location: courtesy of Google Map

 

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location of the fatal pedestrian accident BK NYCThe investigation is still ongoing in the NYC car accident during which Dorothy Burns drove into a group of pedestrians and killed two young children on March 5th. According to a new article in the NY Daily News, a medical crew was dispatched to Burns’ apartment on March 2nd after receiving a call about a cardiac condition. It wasn’t the first time that emergency responders showed up at this address. Investigators found that they were previously called to the rescue for cardiac condition on December 22nd and November 19th.  The health of Dorothy Burns had deteriorated so much at the beginning of the year that she had to ask for a medical leave from her job in January. She didn’t return until February after she received a medical clearance. The investigators are now trying to find out if the doctors told Burns she had to stop driving because of her condition. The woman who suffers from multiple sclerosis had a seizure before crashing into a group of pedestrians who were crossing the road in Park Slope. Two young children died and three other people were injured in the accident (see previous blog

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NYC Fatal traffic accidents were at their lowest last January. During the first month of 2018, 11 people died in a traffic accident compared to respectively 18, 17, 13, 21 and 28 in January 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. The only months when the number of monthly fatal auto accidents in New York City was this low was in March 2016 and in May 2017. The monthly number of traffic deaths never went below 11 in the city.

While traffic fatalities have been on a declining trend since Vision Zero started, the opposite occurred with traffic injuries. They have been on a rising trend. However recent numbers seem to show some signs of stabilization.  4,351 people were injured in a car accident in New York City in January 2018. That’s a little bit less than the 4,383 people injured in January 2017 but more than respectively the 3,654, 3,449, 3,899 and 3,993 people injured in January 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.

Globally, traffic accidents continue to increase in New York City. Despite being lower than most previous months, the number of traffic accidents in New York City reached 17,762 in January 2018 compared to respectively 17,126, 17,798, 15,977, 16,597, 15,599 in January 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. January  is usually a month during which traffic accidents are lower than other months. The number of accidents is usually below the trend line in January.

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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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church fails to maintain buildingA man scavenging for construction material in a half demolished building was seriously injured after he fell through the floor. The accident occurred at a dilapidated Brooklyn building located at the intersection of Rutland Road and Brooklyn Ave in Prospect Lefferts Gardens.  The floor gave way under the weight of the 33 year old man and he got trapped. It took an hour for the paramedics and the firefighters to shore up the basement to take him out. The man was then rushed to the hospital where he was listed in serious condition.

Before being bought by the church next door, the building was a lounge. The church received a violation from the city Environmental Control Board for failure to maintain the building  after it partially collapsed. Concerned neighbors told the DOB at the end of January that the structure “was leaning”. The owner was supposed to raze the entire building but only half of it was demolished.

After the accident the DOB issued 3 violations to the church: