A pedestrian was fatally struck by a car as he was walking along a Queens Highway . The accident occurred Friday night around 11:30 p.m. on the left shoulder of the Van Wyck Expressway heading north near the Liberty Avenue exit. The unidentified man was fatally struck by a Lexus sedan. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident and wasn’t charged.
Read more in the New York Daily News
A driver died and a pedestrian was injured in a NYC car accident involving a cell phone thief who was involved in a high-speed chase by the police. After allegedly steeling a cell phone at the Queens Village Auto Body shop on Hempstead Avenue, 51 year old Derrick Perkins fled in his BMW. The police were alerted about the theft and Perkins was identified by plainclothes officers in an unmarked car. The police officers tried to stop his car but the man fled. A chase followed. At the intersection of 225th Street and Linden Boulevard, the suspect ran a red light and hit a car. The impact was so strong that the car careened onto the sidewalk striking a 29 year old pedestrian. The pedestrian suffered a leg injury and was transported to the hospital. The innocent car driver 78-year-old Roxina Clayton was killed in the accident.
The NYPD Patrol Guide states, “Department Policy requies that a vehicle pursuit be terminated whenever the risks to uniformed members of the service and the public outweigh the danger to the community if suspect is not immediately apprehended.” Among the factors to be considered is the nature of the offence.
Read more in the Gothamist .
3 NYPD officers were injured in a car crash in New York City. The three cops were driving in an unmarked car on Linden Blvd. near Sutphin Blvd. in South Jamaica, Queens. They were responding to a shooting and they had the lights and sirens on. On a nearby street 25 year old Edward Howard was driving his car while smoking a joint. He made a left turn on Linden Blvd at the same time the police car was crossing the intersection and he T-boned the police car.
The impact was so strong that the police car careened into another parked car. The 3 cops suffered personal injury and were transported to the hospital. The stoned driver had watery eyes and an unfinished joint was found in the car’s cup holder.
Read more in the NY Daily News
A pedestrian died, a bicyclist was critically injured and two drivers suffered personal injury in a car accident in New York City. The accident occurred last Thursday in Queens. 56 year old Irene Lee was driving her Porsche on Horace Harding Expressway service road near the Intersection of Junction Boulevard. She lost control of her car and jumped the curb, hitting a pedestrian and a bicyclist. She then fled the scene of the accident and hit two other cars waiting at a nearby red light. She then fled away one more time and drove North on Junction. She later had second thoughts and returned to the scene of the accident. The pedestrian, the bicyclist and one of the car drivers were transported to the hospital. The other car driver suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene of the crash. The pedestrian, a 21-year-old woman, suffered severe head trauma and died from her injuries. The bicyclist, a 26 year old woman, was in critical condition. The driver was in stable condition. Irene Lee was arrested and charged with running a red light and leaving the scene of the accident resulting in death which is a class D felony.
Read in the Gothamist
Four people died and two were injured in a car accident in Long Island, NY on Yaphank Middle Island Road near Rustic Road last night. For some unknown reason the driver of a pick up truck veered in to the opposite lane of traffic and hit a car that was coming in the opposite direction. There were four adults and a baby in the car. The driver of the pickup truck as well as two men and a woman who were in the other car died in the accident. The baby and another woman sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital to be treated.
Read more in the NY Daily News
A bicyclist was fatally hit by a car that didn’t stop after an accident last Saturday in Brooklyn, NYC. The police believe that the driver hit the bicyclist intentionally. 35-year-old Matthew Von Olen was riding back home from a shift at a bar in downtown Manhattan when he was struck by a car in Williamsburg. A video obtained by the police shows that the driver intentionally hit the bicyclist and killed him. The car driver first slowed down at the level of the bicyclist who was riding in the bike lane and then hit him. As Von Olen fell off his bike, the car driver hit him a second time and then ran over him and dragged him about 20 to 30 feet before fleeing. Von Olen suffered severe trauma and died from his injuries. The police are still looking for the car driver who was driving a black 2014-2015 Chevy Camaro with gold New York State license plates (see picture from surveillance camera). Read more in the Gothamist
In New York City, if a driver fails to exercise due care and seriously injures or kills a pedestrian he may be criminally charged based on the so called “Right of Way Law”. (Sect. 19-190 of the NYC Administrative Code ).This law went into effect in NYC in August 2014 as part of the Vision Zero initiative to reduce injuries and deaths related to traffic accidents in the city.
Last Friday, June 24th, a Queens Judge ruled this law unconstitutional. Judge Gia Morris issued a ruling in favor of Isaac Sanson, a school bus driver who failed to yield to an elderly woman in a crosswalk and fatally hit her. Morris opined that because drivers can be charged under the Right of Way law even if their intent or awareness of committing a violent act can’t be proven, the law violates Sanson’s due process.
“The very fabric of our criminal justice system is that an accused person stands before a court innocent until proven guilty, and is entitled to significant constitutional protections separate and distinct from a civil case,” Morris wrote. She went on to state that it was conceded by by all parties that the law intended to use a civil tort negligence liability standard. She thus held that “Such use of a civil tort liability standard of negligence in a criminal case violates a defendant’s rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the federal constitution and state constitutional protections. Specifically, it violates a defendant’s right to due process, to be presumed innocent, and a defendant’s rights against self-incrimination. Thus, the defendant has met his burden of establishing, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the statute is unconstitutional.”
A 69 year old pedestrian died in a car accident Tuesday night. Stephanie Dains was killed fifteen blocks away from where another pedestrian died approximately a week before (see previous blog). The pedestrian was crossing Broadway at the intersection of 75th St. around 8:30 PM when she was struck by a SUV. The driver who is 18 years old stayed at the scene of the accident. The police indicated that the car had the green light. She was sent to the hospital in critical condition but could not be saved. Read the more in the NY Daily News
After a 30-year-old pedestrian was killed by an unlicensed driver who jumped the curb in Brooklyn (see previous blog ), NYC, her family petitioned the Brookyn DA’s office to initiate a grand jury investigation into the accident and obtain justice for their loved one.
Last December Victoria Nicodemus was walking on a Fort Greene sidewalk with her boyfriend when she was fatally struck by a SUV that apparently jumped the curb to avoid a bus. The SUV was driven by 39-year-old Marlon Sewell. The driver had his license suspended and wasn’t supposed to be behind the wheel. Also according to a recent article from the Gothamist, a preliminary police report indicated that Sewell jumped the curb to avoid the bus in front of him but in a statement yesterday, Transportation Altternatives Deputy Director Caroline Samponaro said that Sewell made the reckless decision to drive on the sidewalk to avoid waiting behind the bus.
Immediately after the accident, Sewell was charged with two misdemeanors and thought he would get away with a $500 ticket. However after the Brooklyn DA office agreed to open a grand jury investigation things changed. Yesterday the grand jury voted for Sewell to be indicted for second-degree manslaughter.
Last year 342 car accidents in New York City were caused by fatigued or drowsy drivers and 626 by drivers who fell asleep behind the wheel according to NYPD statistics. Driver fatigue is often experienced by taxi and limousine drivers who are working long shifts without proper rest.
A study conducted by the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and published last year in the the Singapore Medical Journal shows that one in 3 taxi drivers participating in the study experienced driver fatigue. The study also found that the risk of dozing off unexpectedly was much higher after 10 hours of driving.
Symptoms of driver fatigue include trouble concentrating on the road, unexpected nodding, short term memory issues, longer time to react when facing a dangerous situation, yawning and rubbing eyes as well as unexpectedly drifting out of the lane.
New York Personal Injury Attorneys Blog