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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A cyclist died after he was doored by a car in Queens, NYC, and ended up under the wheels of a truck. The accident occurred yesterday afternoon in Long Island City. The 45 year old man was riding his bike North on 21st Street near 46th Avenue when the passenger of a car parked in the street suddenly opened his door and hit him. The impact sent the cyclist flying  in the middle of the street in front of a box truck. The  truck driver didn’t have the time to stop and ran over him. The man was transported to the hospital in serious condition. He later died from his injuries The car driver and the truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident. The truck driver was taken into custody after the police found that he didn’t have a valid license.

Read more on the CBS New York website

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accident sceneSadly NYC motorcycle accidents are always increasing when the warm days come back in the city.  Over the last few days two people died in two separate motorcycle accidents in New York City.

Last Saturday night a motorcyclist was killed after he collided with a minivan in Queens. The accident occurred a little bit after 10:14 pm at the intersection of 221st Street and 113th Drive in Cambria Heights. The motorcyclist who was travelling west on 113th Drive crashed into the passenger door of a minivan travelling North on 221st Street. The motorcyclist was taken to the hospital in critical condition. He later died from his injuries. The 55 year old van driver stayed at the scene of the accident. He suffered minor injury. (Read more in Pix11)

Another motorcyclist died in Brooklyn. 27 year old Luimy Acosta-Collado was riding a dirt bike on Hancock Street in Bushwick on Monday night around 10:50 pm when he struck a car that was doubled parked. He landed on his back and was pinned under a SUV. The bike continued on its way without its driver and crashed into another car. Luimy just lived a half block away. Right after the accident occurred, neighbors as well as his wife ran in the street to try to help him. His wife was frantic and crying. She was saying “please don’t let my husband died”.  The man was rushed to the hospital but he didn’t survive. The driver of the SUV, a 24 year old woman stayed at the scene of the accident. She wasn’t hurt.  As the police arrived to investigate the accident they were unable to find the dirt bike. It was apparently stolen shortly after the accident occurred. The dirt bike that Luimy was riding didn’t belong to him. Dirt bikes are illegal in New York City and neighbors believe that the owner of the bike took it back before it got confiscated. (Read more in the NY Daily News)

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accident sceneA 20 year old woman was killed in a hit and run car accident last Thursday  in Queens. The driver who hit her and tried to run away was arrested by the police. 19 year old Alfaheed Odesanya was driving North on  Guy R. Brewer Boulevard when he blew a red light at the intersection of Archer Ave. He struck another car driven by a young woman. After he struck the car Odesanya and a passenger abandoned the scene of the accident and tried to run away on foot. He was quickly caught by the police and charged with leaving the scene of a serious crash. The young woman was transported to the hospital in critical conditions. She later died from her injuries

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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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location of the fatal pedestrian accident BK NYCOn March 5th, Ruthie Ann Blumenstein was crossing the road with Abigail, her 5 year old daughter when a reckless driver struck them (see our previous blog). Abigail died at the scene of the accident and her mother suffered serious injury. At the time of the accident she was 39 weeks pregnant with Sophia Rosemary Wong Blumenstein. On Wednesday our managing partner, Ben Rubinowitz who represents Mrs Blumenstein announced that sadly her unborn child had died from the injuries suffered during the crash. “The pain suffered by Ruthie and Jonathan is nearly impossible to fathom,” Mr. Rubinowitz said. “As you might imagine, they are overwhelmed by the sadness of the deaths of their children.”

Ruthie Ann Blumenstein is a Tony-Waward winning actress. The actress and her daughter Abigail were among a group of pedestrians who were crossing the intersection of Fifth Ave and 9th street in Park Slope, Brooklyn, when Dorothy Burns ran a red light and erratically plowed into them.  Abigail and 20 month old Joshua Lew died at the scene of the accident. Several pedestrians were injured including the pregnant Ruthie Ann Blumenstein.

Dorthy Burns was recently indicted by a Grand Jury and was charged with manslaughter, assault and criminally negligent homicide (see previous blog).  Burns suffers from multiple sclerosis. Prior to the fatal accident she received 12 driving violations for speeding in school zones and running red lights. Her license is now suspended. It is outrageous that she was still allowed to drive at the time of the accident.

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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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NYC Traffic fatalities by mode before and after Vision ZeroSince Vision Zero started in 2014, NYC traffic fatalities decreased by 28% while nationally they went up by 15%. According to the Fourth Vision Zero Annual Report that was recently released by the de Blasio Administration, the decline was the strongest in pedestrian deaths. They went down by 45% since the program was launched in 2014.

STREET REDESGIN

Last year, under the Vision Zero umbrella, the city installed 832 additional Leading Pedestrians Intervals (LPI). 24.9 miles of protected bike lanes were built leading to a total of more than 60 miles of protected bike lanes in the City. Left turn calming treatments were placed at 110 intersections. 390 speed bumps were also created all over the five boroughs.

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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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An 86 ylocation of the deadly 9 year old pedestrian accident on Northern blvdear old driver fatally struck a young pedestrian in a crosswalk on Northern Boulevard Queens, NYC, and  left the scene of the accident. He was chased by a taxi driver who was able to stop him several blocks away.

The accident occurred last Saturday Afternoon around 1:20 pm. 9-year-old Giovanni Ampuero and his mother, Karen Manrique, had the right of way and were walking in the crosswalk  on Northern Boulevard at the 70th Street intersection in Jackson Heights when Juan Jimenez made a left turn from 70th Street onto Northern Boulevard and plowed into them. The boy was lying in the street while her mother was holding him. He suffered severe head trauma. He was rushed to the hospital where he later died from his injuries.

After he hit the boy, Jimenez just sped off. A taxi driver who saw the accident started to chase him. He was able to stop him 10 blocks away.

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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