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 Posted in Auto Accidents

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A college student was fatally run over by a pick up truck driver Thursday around 5 pm in Long Island, NY. 18 year old Taranjit Parmar, a biology student at Adelphi University was driving on Hempstead Turnpike when she was struck by a pick up truck coming out of a gas station. Both drivers pulled off the road and into a gas station parking area. The young woman stepped out of her vehicle and walked toward the pick up truck. The driver of the pick up truck than just ran over her and sped off leaving her to die in the street. Taranjit was rushed to the hospital but she couldn’t be saved. Her family is devastated. The police are still looking for the driver.

Taranjit is the second driver to be fatally run over by a vehicle after a fender-bender. Earlier in the week a man who’s car was struck by a van in a Brooklyn parking lot was fatally run over by the van driver.

 

 

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accident sceneA construction worker suffered two broken legs after he was struck by a drunk driver early Saturday morning in Staten Island, NYC. The driver, 28 year old Keith Hayes was driving his 2015 Nissan Altima on Midland Ave and made a right turn onto Hyland Boulevard. As he was turning he lost control of his car and hit several orange cones protecting a construction zone. He then struck a flag man barreled into the construction site and flipped his car into a ditch.  The flagman was part of a crew of construction workers who were repairing a water main. He was rushed to the hospital to be treated. The driver was tested for alcohol and breathalyzer showed 0.163, twice the legal limit. He was charged with drunk driving, vehicular assault and reckless endangerment.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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accident sceneA mother and two children as well as a family sitting in their leaving room almost died in two successive car crashes committed by the same car driver. A 35 year old woman driving a yellow mustang jumped the curb Friday afternoon in Queens hitting two boys, 2 and 6 year old. The children were walking on a sidewalk with their mother near the intersection of 170th Street and Jamaica Ave in Jamaica Hills, Queens, NYC. The video below shows that the mother was able to quickly grab the kids and save them from being hit harder by the car. The crazy female driver never stopped. She just sped off  and kept driving. She lost control of her vehicle a second time on 172nd Street and crashed into a house. The front of the car landed in the living room next to a sofa where a pregnant woman was siting with the rest of her family, an elderly woman, the father and two other children. The father, Mohammed Emran couldn’t believe what just happened. He was in shock. His whole family could have died. The mustang driver tried to leave again after she hit the house but a neighbor and his son who saw the accident held her down and called the police. They told CBS News that the woman seemed intoxicated. She was taken to the hospital for toxicology exams.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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accident sceneTwo teenagers died in a car accident in New York City on Monday night.  19 year old Daniel Castellano was driving a 2009 Ford Fusion while his friend 17 year old, Sebastian Serrano was sitting in the passenger seat. They were heading North on Richmond Ave in Bulls Head, Staten Island. When they were near Signs Road, the young driver lost control of his vehicle and hit a parked car. The impact was so intense that the car then veered into a pole and then crashed through the wall of a construction site. Both teenagers were killed during the accident.  The accident occurred less than a mile away from the location of another crash that occurred the day before and left a NYPD detective seriously injured (see previous blog).

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accident sceneA pedestrian was seriously injured in a car accident in New York City. Lisa Bergen, a 50 year old NYPD detective was crossing the street with her partner when a minivan struck her.  The accident occurred  on Richmond Ave near Akron St. in Bulls Head, Saten Island on Sunday a little before 9:00 pm. The minivan was speeding and the 31 year-old driver hit the detective so hard that her body flipped several time in the air before landing with a loud sound. The detective was rushed to the hospital with a fractured skull. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident but wasn’t arrested. So far she hasn’t been charged. Detective Bergen who is assigned  to the 121st precinct squad was on the job at the time of the accident.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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New York Wrongful death Attorneys Ben Rubinowitz and Peter SaghirOur New York Personal Injury Attorneys Ben Rubinowitz and Peter Saghir  recently obtained a $41.5 million Verdict for the wrongful death of a City sanitation worker who was struck by a sweeper truck.
43-year-old Steven Frosh, a City worker died on the job in 2014. He left behind a wife and 4 children aged 7 weeks, 3, 8 and 11 year-old. At the time of the accident, Mr. Frosh was in a city garage in Maspeth. He was making adjustments to his street sweeper truck when he was fatally hit by another street sweeper. He suffered excruciating pain for 2 to 3 minutes before succumbing to his injuries.
His wife, Bina Frosch, sued the City of New York for the negligence and carelessness of the worker driving the sweeper truck.
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37,461 people died in car accidents in the US last year according to data released last week by the US Department of Transportation’s National Traffic Safety Administration. This number is the highest since 2007. Traffic fatalities rose 5.6% compared to 2015. This increase follows another 8.4% rise from 2014 to 2015.  Speeding, drunk driving and the lack of seat belts were the most common factors in the deadly accidents. Car accident deaths related to distracted driving and drowsy driving recorded a decline.

 

Top 5 factors of traffic accidents in the US

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Since Vision Zero started in 2014 fewer people are dying in traffic accidents in New York City but more and more are getting injured. Vision Zero initiatives  helped decrease the number of pedestrian deaths and injuries however the number of motorists injured in car accidents in the city increased at an alarming rate over the last 3 years.

5,163 people suffered personal injury in motor vehicle accidents in New York City last August compared to respectively 5,383,  4,737, 4,445, 4,007 and 4,846 in August 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.  Since the month of May the monthly number of people injured in traffic accidents stayed above 5,000.  The same occurred last summer as well.

Injuries and deaths related to traffic accidents in NYC
Despite a decrease in both pedestrian and bicycle accident injuries over the last 3 years the total number of motor vehicle accident injuries continued to grow mostly due to a steady increase of motorist injuries over the last 3 years.

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Morgan Wang suffered Spinal Injury in a NY Car AccidentBen Rubinowitz, managing partner at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf just obtained one of the largest verdicts ever in the Country for a Spinal Injury case. The Plaintiff, Morgan Wang, was awarded $71 Million by a Manhattan Jury last Thursday.

The case was tried before Supreme Court Judge James d’Auguste. After 3 weeks of trial, the Manhattan Jury awarded Ms. Wang a stunning amount of money to fully and fairly compensate her for injuries suffered in a car accident in New York in August of 2012. The jury awarded $5 million for her Past Pain and Suffering, 6 Million for her Future Pain and Suffering and 60 Million for her medical needs over her lifetime. “We put in an incredible amount of time and effort to make sure Morgan received Justice” said Ben Rubinowitz, who represented Morgan at trial, noting that “this young girl suffered life changing injuries.” She came to the right law firm. “We have a tremendous amount of expertise with Spinal Cord Injuries and no one will work harder or prepare for trialthe car after the accident better than us” said Rubinowitz.

The jury of 3 men and 3 women took two days to reach their verdict. Morgan suffered a fracture of her Lumbar Spine, often referred to as a broken back. Although she is now able to walk with braces, she still suffers from Neurogenic Bowel, a condition that makes it difficult for her to move her bowels.  As a result she will need continued medical and psychiatric care for the rest of her life. “Morgan is an amazing young woman” said Rubinowitz. “She refused to listen to her doctors at the trauma center who said she would never walk again. She overcame tremendous obstacles and worked through her pain at Mt Sinai Rehabilitation Center in Manhattan to learn to walk again. She is the epitome of someone who will never give up. I am proud of Morgan. She cares deeply about people and, to show you how remarkable she is, she now donates her time to help injured veterans. It was an honor to represent Morgan.”

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accident sceneA pedestrian in a wheelchair was seriously injured after being hit by a cab in New York. The elderly man whose identity wasn’t revealed was in a motorized wheelchair on Park Ave near 86th street when the taxi struck him. The accident occurred yesterday afternoon around 2 pm. The cab driver stayed at the scene of the accident. The NY Daily News indicates that he was taken into custody for a charge not related to the accident.

Over the summer several accidents involving yellow cabs occurred on the Upper East Side. On September 14th a woman died after being hit by two consecutive yellow cabs on Lexington between 68th and 69th street (see previous blog). In August, a family who was brunching at the corner of 85th and Second Ave was almost killed after two cabs collided (see previous blog).  In July, 80 year old Barbara Horn was killed by a yellow taxi while she was in the crosswalk. The taxi was making a left turn from third Ave onto 70th street (see previous blog).