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 wrongful death NYC

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car washA veteran car wash worker died two weeks ago in the Bronx, NYC, and “The Car Wash Campaign” is asking for a full investigation into the death of the worker to see if the chemicals that he used may have been the cause of his death. 36 year old William Alberto Castellano Gomez who had been working for the last nine years at C&P Car Wash in the Bronx, NYC started to vomit after work and told his family he suffered from general pain while at work. Two days later he was hospitalized for one night and then released. He died at his home several hours after he was released from the hospital.

On August 21, 2015 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report on Hydrofluoric Acid Injury from Car and Truck Washing. Hydrofluoric Acid is contained in many car and truck wash products. The report points out that, “Exposure to hydrofluoric acid (HF) causes corrosive chemical burns and potentially fatal systemic toxicity”. Read the full report here.

According to activists who are pushing for reform in the industry, car wash workers are using unlabeled chemicals that they are constantly inhaling while they are at work. Even though no proven connections have been established yet in this case, car wash workers have often been complaining about health issues that they believe are related to the inhaling of dangerous chemicals.

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A pedestrian died after being hit by a school bus Friday evening in Brooklyn, NYC.  The bus accident happened on Atlantic Avenue near Schenectady Avenue in Crown Heights. The bus driver was driving East on Atlantic Ave when he swerved to avoid another car. He jumped the curb and fatally hit a 50 year old woman. During the accident the bus also hit two light poles, a gas station and multiple parked cars. The police are investigating the cause of the accident.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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269,140 people were injured in NYC auto accidents last year compared to 256,005 in 2014. This represents an increase of almost 5% in one year. The number of crash injuries first decreased between 2013 and 2014 before significantly increasing in 2015.  By categories motorist injuries and cyclist injuries added to the increase while pedestrian injuries and passengers injuries both declined.

While injuries were on the rise, the yearly number of deaths related to motor vehicle accidents gradually declined. From 286 in 2013, it went down more than 12 % to 250 in 2014  and more than 6% to 235 in 2015. By categories, motorists deaths, pedestrians deaths and bicyclists deaths all declined while passengers deaths increased.

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A 61 year old pedestrian died in a truck accident in Queens, NYC, last Friday. The victim was crossing College Point Boulevard in College point when she was hit by a cement truck. The truck was making a turn onto 15th Ave when the accident happened. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident. The police said no charges were expected to be filed. The woman was rushed to the hospital but she couldn’t be saved.  (Read more in the NY Daily News)

The picture of intersection where the accident happened showed that if the pedestrian was crossing in the crosswalk she had the right of way.

cement truck accident location

 

 

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A truck fatally  struck a bicyclist in Brooklyn, NYC. The truck accident happened yesterday at 5 pm in Sheepshead Bay. 54 year old Reng Can Ma was riding his bicycle westbound on Avenue U near Ninth Street.  A truck driver who was riding in the same direction passed him to closely and hit him. The truck driver didn’t stop. Witnesses believe his truck was so big that he may have not realized that he hit the bicyclist. The police are still looking for him. They have released a surveillance video showing the truck passing the cyclist seconds before the accident. The truck was a large Ryder truck with Indiana license plates. Several people who witnessed the accident ran over to the victim and tried to help him but there was little they could do. The man was lying in the middle of the street and wasn’t moving. According to a witness he was bleeding from the head and he was confused. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Read more and see video on ABC7 NY.

Avenue U is Brooklyn’s second Chinatown. It’s a neighborhood that has been developing fast recently. More and more Chinese food markets, bakeries nail salons and electronic stores are opening between Coney Island Ave and Ocean Ave. The traffic has increased as well and numerous complaints have been reported on the Vision Zero map by concerned residents. The Vision Zero map that was used to define the City’s Vision Zero borough safety action plans shows that Sheepshead Bay residents were worried about the safety of Avenue U. Most of the complaints are related to double parking. Residents reported that there were constantly cars double parked on both side of the Avenue.  Jay walking was also reported on several spots. Additionally complaints of running red lights, failure to yield to pedestrians and illegal U-turns were also reported by some residents.

Avenue U

 

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brOur managing partner NYC truck accident attorney Ben Rubinowitz obtained a $4.8 million settlement for the family of a victim of a NYC truck accident.

On March 9 2011, around noon, Albert DeFilippo was riding in a “Lifestyle for the Disabled” van in Staten Island when the vehicle was struck by a FDNY truck.  DePhilippo and the other passengers of the van had attended a workshop and eaten lunch and were being driven back to Pleasant Plain when the accident happened.

The FDNY truck was rushing on Richmond Road toward the Staten Island Expressway. Its lights were flashing and its siren was wailing. When the truck reached the intersection of Burgher Avenue it collided with the Lyfestyle van. The van was making a left turn from Burgher. The impact was so strong than one of the riders died, two others were critically injured and 6 others suffered minor injuries.

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MTAAfter a pedestrian died in a New York City bus accident, officials announced that the driver was arrested under the city’s Right of Way Law. The fatal bus accident happened a week ago in Brooklyn, NYC.

62 year old Eleanora Shulkina was crossing East 17th Street near Avenue Z. The woman was in the crosswalk when she was hit by a MTA bus making a left turn on Avenue Z. She was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. She didn’t survive her injuries and died shortly after.

The bus driver, 52 year old Wayne Alman, stayed at the scene of the accident. He wasn’t immediately charged. However yesterday officials announced that they had arrested the bus driver. He is charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian, a misdemeanor under the newly signed Right of Way Law.

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The police are looking for a hit and run driver who killed a teen pedestrian Tuesday night in Queens, NYC.  The accident happened on Northern Blvd near Junction Blvd. 17 year old Jaremello Ovidio was crossing the road when he was hit by the car. The driver didn’t stop. The teen was left dying in the street. He was walking home from a funeral when he was hit by the car. The police are looking for a black Toyota Camry that was driving westbound on Northern Blvd around 11:00 pm on Tuesday night.

So far this year there were 38,000 hit and run accidents in New York City. 31 people died in these accidents and 4000 suffered personal injury.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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One man died and another one was critically injured in car accident in Queens, New York City. Monday early morning, 30 year old Jorge Bermudez was driving his car on Laurel Hill Blvd with a passenger at his side. As he was near 49th street just under the Brooklyn Queens Expressway in Maspeth, he lost control of the vehicle. The car slammed into a median and both the driver and the passenger got pinned inside. Witnesses reported that the crash was very loud. The victims were rushed to the hospital where Bermudez died. Read more in the NY Daily News

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NicodemusOne pedestrian died and two others where injured yesterday night in Brooklyn, NYC, after an unlicensed driver lost control of his vehicle and jumped the curb. Yesterday around 5:30 pm, 30 year old Victoria Nicodemus was walking with her boyfriend on a sidewalk of Fulton Street near South Portland Street in Fort Green when a SUV jumped the curb and hit the two of them as well as a 75 year old female pedestrian. Victoria died and the two others suffered personal injury.

Marlon Sewell, the driver, didn’t realize that there was a bus stop nearby and that the bus in front of him was about to stop. He swerved to avoid it and jumped the curb killing one and injuring two. He was arrested by the police and was charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and  operating a motor vehicle without insurance. Read more in the Gothamist

Later on, disturbing footage of a surveillance video was released showing a woman that happened to be steps away from the crash looking at the victim and then continuing to walk down the street eating her pizza, unfazed after the crash.