Wrongful Death

Published on: September 18, 2014

Off-duty NYPD cop was drunk when he drove the wrong way on the NY State Thruway and crashed his car into another vehicle killing himself and the other driver

Results of the autopsy show that Richard Christopher, an off duty Bronx cop, had .21% blood alcohol content when he drove the wrong way and killed himself and another man in a car crash on a New York State Highway.

On August 12th, 32 year old Richard Christopher, an 8-year veteran of the NYPD assigned to the 43rd Precint in Parkchester was seen by witnesses first driving North on I-87 then pulling on the side of the road and making a U-turn to start driving south before the deadly car accident happened.

1 dead and 2 injured in an accident between a truck and a minivan in the Bronx, NYC

By GGCRBHS&M

An unlicensed driver suffered personal injury and his passenger died after he crashed the minivan he was driving into the back of a truck. The accident happened early Tuesday morning at Tiffany Street and Barry Avenue in Hunts Point in the Bronx, NYC. The driver was arrested and charged with driving without a license. According to CBS New York, the minivan involved in the crash was stolen and the driver was also charged with grand larceny of an auto and criminal possession of stolen property.

Published on: September 16, 2014

OSHA now requires employers to report employee fatalitities within 8 hours and severe injury requiring hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours

By GGCRBHS&M

OSHA recently updated its Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting regulation by announcing a new rule that requires employers to report not only single fatalities but also single hospitalizations, amputations or loss of an eye. Previously, OSHA’s regulations required an employer to report only work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees.

Additionally OSHA also updated the list of industries that are partially exempted from this rule due to relatively low occupational injury and illness rates.

Read the press release

Published on: September 15, 2014

Minivan taxi driver fatally strikes a man who was changing a tire on the Van Wyck Expressway and injures 3 other people

By GGCRBHS&M

A man died and two women and a child suffered personal injury in a car accident on the Van Wyck Expressway near JKF Airport. According to the New York Daily News, the victim had pulled his car to the shoulder of the highway to change a flat tire when he was hit by a minivan taxi registered with the Taxi and Limousine Commission Sunday around 4:00 am. A woman who was in the victim’s car and another woman and a child who were in the taxi suffered personal injury and were taken to the hospital.

Published on: September 15, 2014

Five people injured and one dead in a multi-car accident in Rosedale, NYC

By GGCRBHS&M

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.

A 55 year old pedestrian died after being struck by the City bus she had just stepped off in Elmhurst, Queens, NYC

By GGCRBHS&M

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.

Continue reading →

Published on: September 10, 2014

Senator Schumer secures $25 million in federal funding for NYC Vision Zero Initiatives to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries

By GGCRBHS&M

13 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.

After two children’s death from suffocating and choking, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and Ace Bayou Corp. announce a voluntary recall of 2.2 million dangerous bean bag chairs

By GGCRBHS&M

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

Published on: September 8, 2014

Brooklyn pedestrian died yesterday after being struck by a car driven by an elderly woman

By GGCRBHS&M

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

Published on: September 8, 2014

A man died after he jumped in the Hudson River to try to save a child who fell in the river at JFK Marina in Yonkers NY

By GGCRBHS&M

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.