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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deadly Staten Island car accidentA devastating two-vehicle collision in Staten Island has left a family shattered and once again underscores how quickly a routine drive can turn fatal. As NYC car accident lawyers, cases like this are a painful reminder that serious crashes often result from ordinary traffic movements — and that the consequences are borne most heavily by innocent passengers and families.

The crash occurred last  Friday morning at the intersection of Forest Hill Road and Rockland Avenue in New Springville. A Honda SUV traveling south collided with an Audi Q5 making a left turn. Inside the Honda were 6-year-old Anheli Vasquez and 90-year-old Gerardo Avila, who was on his way to a chemotherapy appointment. Mr. Avila died shortly after the crash. Anheli remained hospitalized with catastrophic injuries and passed away Sunday morning, 48 hours later.

For Anheli’s mother, Marlene Trinidad, the loss is unimaginable. She never left her daughter’s bedside and described returning home without her “princess.” The child, a first-grader born in Staten Island, was remembered as loving, bilingual, and deeply connected to Mr. Avila and his wife, whom she considered her grandparents.

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NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to prevent car accidentsAs Brooklyn car accident lawyers, McGuinness Boulevard has long stood out as one of Greenpoint’s most dangerous corridors. Its history as a widened, high-speed thoroughfare has translated into decades of preventable crashes, severe pedestrian injuries, and fatal collisions. That is why Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s announcement to complete the full McGuinness Boulevard road diet matters—not just politically, but from a public-safety and legal accountability perspective.

The decision revives the original NYC DOT redesign initiated during the Bill de Blasio administration and scaled back under Eric Adams. By narrowing McGuinness to one travel lane in each direction between the Pulaski Bridge and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, and extending parking-protected bike lanes through the entire corridor, the city is finally addressing a roadway design that has put Greenpoint residents at risk for generations.

Why McGuinness Boulevard Has Been So Dangerous

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Location of the fatal hit and run accident in the LESA suspect has been arrested in connection with a fatal hit-and-run that killed a pedestrian lawfully crossing the street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. According to court filings and police statements, the victim had the walk signal when she was struck in the crosswalk at Stanton and Clinton Streets. The driver allegedly fled the scene, leaving the victim critically injured. She later died at Bellevue Hospital.

This case underscores a reality car accident attorneys in New York City confront far too often: hit-and-run crashes involving pedestrians are among the most devastating—and legally complex—traffic cases in the city.

Hit-and-Run Crashes Are Not “Accidents”

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Dooring occurs too often in NYCA fatal dooring crash in Ozone Park, Queens, has once again highlighted the serious and often overlooked dangers faced by cyclists, e-bike riders, and scooter riders on New York City streets. These incidents are not unavoidable accidents—they are frequently the result of a driver or passenger failing to exercise basic care when opening a vehicle door.

The Ozone Park Dooring Crash: A 10-Day Struggle for Survival

On the evening of November 18, 2025, Sahan Ahmed, a 24-year-old electric scooter rider, was traveling westbound on Liberty Avenue near 103rd Avenue in Ozone Park, Queens. As he passed a parked 2012 Kia Soul, the driver opened the driver’s-side door directly into his path.

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Sharik Bryant Killed in a Bronx Hit and Run AccidentA tragic hit-and-run in the Bronx has once again raised pressing questions for families about their rights, available legal remedies, and how to pursue compensation when a reckless driver causes a fatal pedestrian crash and flees the scene.

Early Saturday morning, 27-year-old Shariq Bryant was struck and killed while crossing E. 222nd Street near Boston Road. Police say the driver of a 2025 BMW M8 was speeding down the block before hitting Mr. Bryant and crashing into a telephone pole. Instead of staying to help, the driver ran off, leaving behind an injured passenger and a shattered community.

Loved ones describe Mr. Bryant as optimistic, supportive, and someone who brought people together. He had returned to his old Bronx neighborhood to visit friends when his life was taken without warning.

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location of the deadly moped accident in QueensA fatal collision in Jamaica, Queens is drawing renewed attention to the risks pedestrians face every day on New York City streets — including those posed by mopeds, e-bikes, and bicycles operated in violation of traffic laws. Police report that 68-year-old Trevor Lloyd Samuels was crossing at 93rd Avenue and 168th Street on Friday evening when he was struck by a moped rider while walking in a marked crosswalk. He suffered severe head trauma and later died at Jamaica Hospital.

The moped operator, 26-year-old Yunior Rodriguez, remained at the scene and was taken to Queens Hospital, where he was arrested and charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

For Mr. Samuels’s family, the sudden loss has been devastating. His daughter described him as a man with “story for days”—a former correctional officer in Jamaica for nearly four decades, a dedicated home health aide, and a deeply loved father and grandfather. His five children and five grandchildren are now grappling with the weight of a preventable tragedy that unfolded in seconds.

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Orla Baxendale lost her life due to anaphylactic shock resulting from a severe allergic reaction to a cookie manufactured by Cookies UnitedWhen a family loses a daughter to a preventable tragedy, accountability is not optional. It is essential. At Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf, our attorneys are representing the family of Órla Baxendale, a 25-year-old dancer whose life was cut short by a mislabeled cookie that was packaged and sold by Stew Leonard’s. The substitute complaint we filed on October 16, 2025, details systemic failures in the grocery chain’s allergen disclosure and product labelingprocedures — procedures that the complaint describes as “broken, unreliable, inherently dangerous, undependable, untrustworthy, erratic, and deplorable.”

Órla had severe allergies to peanuts. On January 11, 2024, she ate a Vanilla Florentine cookie that was purchased from a Stew Leonard’s store in Connecticut.  The cookies’ label did not list peanuts as one of its ingredients. Specifically, the cookies’ “contains” statement did not list peanuts. But the cookies contained peanuts — and Órla suffered a fatal anaphylactic reaction as a result of eating one.

Our substitute complaint outlines how this mislabeling was not an isolated mistake. Instead, it reflects systemic shortfalls in the grocer’s allergen-control and labeling systems.

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intersection of Meserole and Leonard where the fatal bike accident occuredA 33-year-old Medford man has been arrested in connection with the hit-and-run crash that killed cyclist Alexandra “Allie” Huggins, 32, in Williamsburg. This development brings long-awaited progress in a case that outraged Brooklyn’s cycling community and highlighted once again the devastating consequences of drivers fleeing crash scenes.

What Happened on the Night of the Crash

According to police, the collision occurred at about 2:30 a.m. on September 27 at the intersection of Meserole Street and Leonard Street.

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Fatal Bronx intersectionAn 80-year-old Bronx resident, Rose Young, was fatally struck last Thursday while crossing the intersection of Holland Avenue and Allerton Avenue in the Allerton neighborhood. According to police, Ms. Young was walking through the crosswalk when a 56-year-old driver operating a 2005 Honda Odyssey made a left turn from northbound Holland Avenue onto Allerton Avenue and hit her.

Emergency Medical Services transported Ms. Young to Jacobi Hospital, where she later died from her injuries. The driver remained at the scene. As of now, no arrests have been made, and the NYPD Highway District Collision Investigation Squad is continuing to review the circumstances surrounding the crash.

Ms. Young lived only two blocks from where she was struck. For many Bronx families, this proximity underscores the devastating reality that serious and fatal collisions often occur directly within the communities where residents walk every day.

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AMiriam Yarimi killed a mom her two dauthers and badly injured the son in a reckless car accident Brooklyn Supreme Court judge has sentenced the driver responsible for the devastating Ocean Parkway crash that killed a mother and two of her young children and severely injured a third one. But while the criminal case has concluded, the sentencing does nothing to address the ongoing needs, losses, and long-term impact faced by the victims’ family. For them, the legal work is far from over.

The Facts of the Crash

On March 29, 2025, 33-year-old Miriam Yarimi, a social media influencer known for her wig-making business, was driving her Audi A3 northbound on Ocean Parkway with a suspended license and a long record of dangerous driving — including: