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 Wrongful Death

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Five people were sent to the hospital and a 24 year old motorcyclist died in a car crash involving several vehicles near the intersection of Rockaway and Brookville in Queens, NYC. The motorcyclist was riding his bike on Rocakaway Blvd when it broke down. Several people met him and helped him load the bike on a pick up truck. As they were doing so a Chevy van hit the back of the pick up truck and struck them. Another car then hit the Chevy van. The motorcyclist died at the scene and five other people suffered personal injury and were rushed to the hospital.

Read more in the Times Ledger

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A 55 year old woman was killed in a bus accident as she was crossing Astoria Boulevard last night around 10 pm. Melanie Ward exited the Q47 bus on 80th Street just before the intersection with Astoria Boulevard in Elmhurst. She then proceeded to cross Astoria Boulevard in the crossing lines. At the same time, the bus driver made a right turn on Astoria Blvd and hit the victim with the front wheel. Melanie Ward later died from her injuries at the hospital.

According to a Street Blog NYC article by Brad Aaron, the victim seemed to have the right of way and under the new Vision Zero Law (Intro 238) the bus driver should have been charged. However the police told the Gothamist that they could not say if Ward had the right of way and didn’t charge the driver.

Intro 238 makes it a misdemeanor for drivers to strike pedestrians or cyclists who have the right of way. The law has been effective since August 22nd. The police didn’t enforce it against a yellow cab driver who killed a pedestrian who had the right of way on August 29th on the Upper West Side and will probably not enforce it against the bus driver in this case.

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Charles_Schumer_official_portrait.jpg13 projects to prevent pedestrian and bicycle accidents in New York City are going to be funded by a $25 million federal grant secured by Senator Schumer. Previous Vision Zero Crash analysis and input from communities were used to select the13 project locations. Projects will include an extension of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway; street safety improvements near schools in Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island; and pedestrian safety measures along dangerous corridors like Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park.

Read more in Transportation Nation

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Two children died after they opened the zippers of an Ace Bayou bean bag chair , crawled inside the chair’s foam bed and got trapped. They suffocated from the lack of air and inhaled the foam beads.
The voluntary standard requires non-refillable bean bag chairs to have closed and permanently disabled zippers. The Ace Bayou Bean Bag Chairs don’t comply with this standard. The recalled products have two zippers, one on the exterior cover and one underneath on the bean bag itself. Both can be easily opened by children who can then crawl inside and get trapped.

The recalled products were manufactured in China and come in various shape colors and sizes. For more information click here

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An 88 year old church deacon driving to mass ran over a homeless pedestrian pushing a shopping cart on the crosswalk as she was making a left turn from Bedford Ave. The elderly woman said she didn’t see the man. Left turns are more dangerous than right turns. Often drivers making a left turn concentrate on finding a momentary break in the traffic to rush through and don’t see pedestrians crossing at the same time. According to a previous article in the NY Post, left-turn crashes in which the pedestrians either suffer severe personal injury or die outnumber right-turn ones by 3 to 1 in New York.

Read more in the New York Post

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After a young boy fell in the Hudson River near the JFK marina in Yonkers, several people jumped in the water to rescue him. The boy was safely brought out of the water but among the good Samaritans a 40 year old man didn’t make it. The man drowned and was found by NYPD divers assisted by the Yonkers police. The drowning occurred around 6:30 during a community cookout.

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A 16 year football player from Curtis High School in Long Island, NYC, died after he collapsed on the field during practice. Miles Kirkland-Thomas was a 6.2 feet and 321 pounds defensive tackle. He showed up late at practice and was ordered to do wind springs. He was stopped by coaches after completing two springs. Miles collapsed as he was talking to one of his coaches. The temperature was around 80 degrees with high humidity.

His father told the media that because Monday was a Holiday, there was no bus service to go to practice and because Miles was running late he probably ran up a steep hill that leads to the school. The Department of Education is investigating the death of the young man. More will be known after the autopsy Today.

Read more in the New York Daily News.

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A toddler died of his injury in a Bronx day care after 40 year old Athena Skeeter, a child care professional licensed by the state “wrestled” with the boy. The woman was recommended by the city to the father to take care of his baby boy even though she was cited 3 times for lack of CPR and first-aid training (read more in the New York Daily News). She was licensed to run a family based day care for up to 7 children in her Bronx home.

The woman explained to the police that she flipped the boy onto a bed, lifted him by an arm and a leg and threw him onto the floor. She then stepped on his stomach 3 times. She was charged with manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child in the death of Cardel Williamson, who suffered blunt force trauma to the head and torso, authorities said.

Read more on NBC News New York and see video below.

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Based on previous statistics of car crashes, The National Safety Council (NSC) estimates that car accidents will kill 400 people and injure 42,300 this Labor Day week-end in the US. Here are a few safety tips to make your ride safer this week-end:

  • Buckle up. The NSC estimates that out of the 400 fatalities estimated for this long week-end, 144 could be avoided by buckling up
  • Do not use your cell phone while driving
  • Set up your GPS, radio or any info in-vehicle infotainment systems before you start driving your car
  • Give yourself plenty of time to arrive at your destination so you don’t get frustrated while you are driving
  • If you are planning to drink make sure there is a non drinking designated driver or simply avoid taking your car and plan for a taxi
  • Be cautious and drive defensively especially if the weather is bad.

Read more here

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A woman driving back from a family gathering with her 3 children and her mother lost control of her car killing herself and all the other car passengers on the Southern State Parkway toward Brooklyn Saturday night around 11:00 pm. The car veered off the road, hit a tree and burst into flames killing all occupants of the vehicle. The police are investigating the cause of the accident.

Read more on the NBC New York website