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 Pedestrian Accidents

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crashIGA 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 .

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A 76-year-old pedestrian who was struck by a car two months ago in Queens, NYC, died from her injuries. Maria Damaco was crossing the  intersection of Fresh Pond Road and Myrtle Ave Avenue when she was hit by car making a left turn. The car driver, a 36-year-old woman,  stayed at the scene of the accident.

Read more in the NY Daily News


 

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A 79 year old woman was  struck by a truck in New York City last Friday. The woman was crossing Second Avenue at the intersection of 58th Street when a pick up truck slammed into her. People ran to the rescue but her feet were stuck under the truck. One leg was mangled and the other one broken. She had blood on her face as well. She was transported in critical condition to the hospital. The pick up truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident. He was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian.

Read more in the NY Daily News 

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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  

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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.”

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image 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.

 

 

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imageLast week a young pedestrian died in a truck accident but the police said that the truck driver, despite leaving the scene of the accident, will not be charged.

21-year-old Noha Goldstein (picture) was crossing Broadway at the intersection of 61st Street near Columbus Circle in Manhattan, NYC, when hit by a garbage truck, suffering injuries resulting in his death. The driver never stopped. He continued on his way  leaving the young man dying in the street.  The police were able to find the driver a few days later by looking at video footage of the accident. However for some strange reason the video jumps and only footage of before and after the accident are available. The  police said that they believe that the truck driver wasn’t at fault and that he didn’t stop because he probably didn’t see the pedestrian and didn’t know that he hit him because of the nature of the garbage truck.

Read more in the Gothamist

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Car accidents are a common cause of Tibial Plateau Fractures. It is estimated that approximately 25% of such fractures are caused by pedestrians being struck by cars or other motor vehicles, hence they have been referred to as bumper fractures. In New York City many pedestrians struck by vehicles suffer injury to the Tibial Plateau. The Tibia or shinbone as it is commonly referred to is one of the bones of the lower leg the other being the fibula. It joins and articulates with the lower end of the Femur. The Tibial Plateau is located at the upper end of the Tibia and is part of the knee-joint. It is one of the most important load bearing parts of the body, thus fractures of it often affect knee alignment and stability.

In this video, Dr Nabil Ebraheim, Professor and Chair of Orthopedic Surgery at The University of Toledo, explains what a Tibial Plateau Fracture is and how it affects the knee and leg.

If you are interested in seeing more high quality medical videos from Professor Ebraheim, you can visit his youtube channel or follow him on Google +

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Giovanni Nin, 26, was struck by an SUV as he rode his bike around 12:40 a.m. Saturday. The accident occurred at the intersection of East Tremont Avenue and Mayflower Avenue in The Bronx, NYC. The SUV, a BMW X 5 fled the scene according to a witness. The police are still looking for the driver. This was a deadly weekend for pedestrians and cyclists. According to The New York Daily News, on Saturday afternoon a 52 year old woman was hit by a car and killed late Saturday afternoon. A woman riding her bike suffered fatal injuries when she was struck by a pick-up truck in Tribeca in Manhattan on Saturday night. Further, on Friday night Saber Mohamed a passenger in a Toyota Sienna, was killed when a Ford Explorer sped past several stop signs on Georgia Avenue in Brooklyn striking the Toyota. Christopher Cates, the driver of the Explorer attempted to flee but was caught by the police. Cates was charged with  manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, speeding and driving while impaired by drugs

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pedestrian chance of getting killedpedestrian struck by a car driving at 20 mph has a 7% chance of being killed. A pedestrian struck by a car driving at 40 mph has a 45% chance of being killed.  A recent article  from ProPublica explains why decreasing speed in urban areas can make a difference and protect pedestrians from being killed by cars. The article comes with a very interesting interactive chart that shows the chances of pedestrians of different ages being killed by cars driving at any rate of speed.

The chart especially shows how much more dangerous it is for older pedestrians to get ht by a car. It also highlights that after 25 mph the chances of getting killed increase extremely quickly.

This is one of the main reasons why as part of the Vision Zero Imitative to decrease pedestrian death, Mayor De Blasio decreased the default’s city speed from 30 mph to 25 mph.