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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location of truck and bicycle accident on Webster AveA cyclist died after he was hit by a truck that never stopped. The accident occurred at the intersection of Webster Ave and the ramp of the Cross Bronx Expressway in the Tremont section of the Bronx.  The bicyclist was riding to the right side of  a white box truck when the truck made a right turn to get on the expressway ramp.  The truck hit the cyclist but never stopped. He just continued on his way onto the ramp and headed south toward I-95 New Jersey.  According to witnesses the cyclist who was in his twenties was knocked off his bicycle. He was rushed to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved. He died there from his injuries.

Sparse and dangerous unprotected bike lanes offer little protection to Bronx Bicyclists

Too little is being done in the Bronx  to prevent bicycle accidents. Webster Avenue was redesigned in 2012 to implement “Select Bus Service” but  bike lanesSouth Bike Lane Gand Concourse implementation were not part of this re-design.

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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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Two women died after their home caught fire in Queens, NYC.  The two women were an elderly mother and her daughter living on Wheatley Street in Far Rockaway.  The two women had been living in the house for 20 years. The mother was around eighty years old. Her daughter was a nurse. The fire erupted around 4:00 am on Monday and quickly spread throughout the house.  More than a hundred firemen were called to the rescue to fight the blaze. According to witnesses the fire spread so fast that they had great difficulties to get to the victims. When they finally were able to get them out they were rushed to the hospital but it was too late. They both died. Investigation is ongoing to determine what caused the fire.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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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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Speed_cameras1Dorothy Burns, the woman who killed two children and sent their mothers to the hospital after going through a red light, had a history of reckless driving. She was caught four times for running a red light and four other times for speeding in school zones. However she was still able to drive around the city.

In Today’s editorial, the New York Daily News is pointing out several cases of dangerous drivers who have been caught multiple times endangering pedestrians lives but still have their driving licence.

Drivers who are being caught by speed or red-light cameras only risk a $50 fine in New York City. There are no other consequences whatever the number of times they are caught doing it. The Daily News found out that a dozen drivers have accumulated more than 45 tickets each and are still able to drive in the city.  Privacy Laws prevented the Daily News from obtaining the names of these drivers. However they found out that the same car in Queens got 74 tickets for speeding in school zone and 1 for going through a red light.  A white van got 59 speeding tickets and 7 red light violations. Two livery cars with TLC licenses  had a total of 22 red light violations and 25 speeding tickets.

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A hard hat died at a NYC construction site after being crushed between a forklift and and a flatbed truck. 46 year old Jorge Castaneda from Queens was working at a Brooklyn construction site located at the intersection of Stewart Street and Broadway in Buschwick, Saturday afternoon around 3:00 pm. The construction worker walked between a flatbed truck and a forklift that was carrying scaffolding pipes. The forklift tipped over as it was passing next to Castaneda, crushing him against the truck.  Emergency responders lifted the forklift, liberated the poor man and rushed him to the hospital. Unfortunately the worker couldn’t be saved. He died from his injuries.  Read more in the NY Daily News

Forklifts are dangerous machines and unfortunately accidents involving workers on foot struck by such machines are all too common. Very often accidents occur because safety protocols established by the New York State Department of Labor were not followed. In the case of the death of Jorge Castaneda, the forklift may have tipped because it was not in compliance with Industrial Code §23-9.8(b) stating that forklifts may not be overloaded.

Picture of the site of the accident courtesy of Google Map

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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:

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bicycle accident locationA bicyclist died in a hit and run accident near Laguardia Airport in New York City. After reviewing surveillance videos, the Police now believe that the victim was hit by a shuttle bus.

36 year old Steven Morales was pedaling on Runway Drive near Laguardia Airport around 7:00 pm when he was mowed down by a vehicle that never stopped. The emergency crew gave him CPR and rushed him to a nearby hospital but he couldn’t be saved.

Runway drive which is an access road to Laguardia Airport was shut down for a few hours for investigation purposes. The police also searched surveillance camera and were able to find the shuttle and the driver who allegedly hit the cyclist. The driver denied hitting anyone. He wasn’t arrested. According to the police the bicyclist may have been hit by the rear wheel of the shuttle bus.