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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Two women died after their home caught fire in Queens, NYC.  The two women were an elderly mother and her daughter living on Wheatley Street in Far Rockaway.  The two women had been living in the house for 20 years. The mother was around eighty years old. Her daughter was a nurse. The fire erupted around 4:00 am on Monday and quickly spread throughout the house.  More than a hundred firemen were called to the rescue to fight the blaze. According to witnesses the fire spread so fast that they had great difficulties to get to the victims. When they finally were able to get them out they were rushed to the hospital but it was too late. They both died. Investigation is ongoing to determine what caused the fire.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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even Hills School Hillsdale campus from aboveA teenager died after being crushed by a defective car seat after making two agonizing phone calls to 911. Sixteen year old Kyle Plush was in his van, a Honda Odissey, on the parking lot of the Seven Hills School – Illsdale Campus in Madisonville, OH when the second-row seat accidentally tipped forward slowly crushing the young man to death. 46 people previously reported minor injuries for a similar issue and Honda issued a recall of this model last year to fix the problem.

“I probably don’t have much time left, so tell my mom that I love her if I die,”

As the seat was crushing him, Kyle picked up his cell phone and called 911 begging for help. He told the operator he was at “Seven Hills” but she couldn’t understand where it was. He made a second call and told the operator “I probably don’t have much time left, so tell my mom that I love her if I die,” he said. “I’m trapped inside my gold Honda Odyssey van. In the (inaudible) parking lot of Seven Hills Hillsdale. Send officers immediately. I’m almost dead.”

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New-York-Construction-Site-1-e1523363525354More than two years ago,  our client Rebecca Wichs lost her husband in a crane accident in downtown Manhattan. David Wichs was crossing the street when he was fatally struck by a collapsing crane.  That day, despite heavy snow and winds, the City didn’t order crane operators to lower and secure their cranes.  Now when the winds are above 30 mph, all crane operators in New York City are required by law to stop their operations. Last Wednesday, as winds were unusually strong, the DOB made surprise crane inspections all around the city.

All big cranes installed in the five boroughs are now required to be equipped with an operating wind measuring device.  When the device indicates that winds are above 30 mph, operators are required by law to cease all operations.  If they don’t, they can face up to a $25,000 personal fine for violation.

It is difficult for the only 12 DOB crane inspectors to be able to check the 300 cranes installed across New York City but when it is necessary, the DOB brings in additional inspectors from other parts of the agency. Despite the limited number of resources the DOB has increased the number of violations for unsafe crane operations over the recent years. They went from 4000 five years ago to 8000 last year. The DOB also indicates that since the 2016 accident, crane operators don’t usually take risks when the weather turns bad.

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accident sceneA young couple died and 5 other people suffered serious injury in a car accident involving 5 vehicles early Thursday morning in New York City.  So far the investigators are still trying to figure out what exactly caused the five-car chain reaction crash.

The accident occurred between 1:00 am and 2:00 am  on the Nassau Expressway in Inwood.  The massive collision left debris of car parts, oil and gasoline over 800 feet on the highway. According to the police one of the cars’engines went out of the vehicle.

The young couple was identified by the police as 21-year-old Yisroel Levin, of Brooklyn, and 20-year-old Elisheva Basya Kaplan, of Far Rockaway.  They got trapped in their car as it burst on fire. The two of them got engaged last week and were set to be married over the summer.

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location of the fatal pedestrian accident BK NYCThe investigation is still ongoing in the NYC car accident during which Dorothy Burns drove into a group of pedestrians and killed two young children on March 5th. According to a new article in the NY Daily News, a medical crew was dispatched to Burns’ apartment on March 2nd after receiving a call about a cardiac condition. It wasn’t the first time that emergency responders showed up at this address. Investigators found that they were previously called to the rescue for cardiac condition on December 22nd and November 19th.  The health of Dorothy Burns had deteriorated so much at the beginning of the year that she had to ask for a medical leave from her job in January. She didn’t return until February after she received a medical clearance. The investigators are now trying to find out if the doctors told Burns she had to stop driving because of her condition. The woman who suffers from multiple sclerosis had a seizure before crashing into a group of pedestrians who were crossing the road in Park Slope. Two young children died and three other people were injured in the accident (see previous blog) 

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Speed_cameras1Dorothy Burns, the woman who killed two children and sent their mothers to the hospital after going through a red light, had a history of reckless driving. She was caught four times for running a red light and four other times for speeding in school zones. However she was still able to drive around the city.

In Today’s editorial, the New York Daily News is pointing out several cases of dangerous drivers who have been caught multiple times endangering pedestrians lives but still have their driving licence.

Drivers who are being caught by speed or red-light cameras only risk a $50 fine in New York City. There are no other consequences whatever the number of times they are caught doing it. The Daily News found out that a dozen drivers have accumulated more than 45 tickets each and are still able to drive in the city.  Privacy Laws prevented the Daily News from obtaining the names of these drivers. However they found out that the same car in Queens got 74 tickets for speeding in school zone and 1 for going through a red light.  A white van got 59 speeding tickets and 7 red light violations. Two livery cars with TLC licenses  had a total of 22 red light violations and 25 speeding tickets.

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A hard hat died at a NYC construction site after being crushed between a forklift and and a flatbed truck. 46 year old Jorge Castaneda from Queens was working at a Brooklyn construction site located at the intersection of Stewart Street and Broadway in Buschwick, Saturday afternoon around 3:00 pm. The construction worker walked between a flatbed truck and a forklift that was carrying scaffolding pipes. The forklift tipped over as it was passing next to Castaneda, crushing him against the truck.  Emergency responders lifted the forklift, liberated the poor man and rushed him to the hospital. Unfortunately the worker couldn’t be saved. He died from his injuries.  Read more in the NY Daily News

Forklifts are dangerous machines and unfortunately accidents involving workers on foot struck by such machines are all too common. Very often accidents occur because safety protocols established by the New York State Department of Labor were not followed. In the case of the death of Jorge Castaneda, the forklift may have tipped because it was not in compliance with Industrial Code §23-9.8(b) stating that forklifts may not be overloaded.

Picture of the site of the accident courtesy of Google Map

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helicopter about to drown5 people died in a helicopter accident in New York on Sunday. Only the pilot, 33 year old Richard Vance, survived. The passengers were two 26 year old friends from Dallas, Trevor Cadigan and Brian McDaniel, an Argentinean tourist, 29 year old Carla Vallejos Blanco and two employees of the helicopter company, 34 year old Daniel Thompson and 29 year old Tristan Hill.  They were riding aboard a door-off helicopter that used to be reserved for professional photography but has been recently marketed to tourists as well.  Because the doors are opened during the entire flight, passengers are secured in complicated harness systems. Unfortunately what made the harness safe when in the sky became a death device during the crash. As the helicopter quickly went down in the freezing water of the East River, none of the passengers were able to free themselves from the safety harness. The federal regulators announced yesterday that they would give urgent attention on the use of harnesses for aerial photography.

Before boarding the 5 passengers were required to look at a 10-minute safety video which briefly explains that there is a knife in a pocket of the harness that has to be used to cut a strap in the back of the harness in case of emergency . Tourist are often so excited that they don’t really pay attention to the video. Additionally when someone is upside down panicking in freezing water , everything becomes much more difficult. One would hvae to be trained like a Navy Seal to free himself in such difficult conditions.

The pilot told investigators that a bag or a strap of a bag may have touched a fuel control switch however experts doubt that this theory is plausible.  The pilot then realized he was experiencing engine trouble and decided to attempt an emergency landing. He could have chosen Central Park but he decided to land on the East River instead. The pilot executed what is known as an emergency auto rotation maneuver but the helicopter turned over and sank with the passengers stuck in their safety harnesses. The emergency inflatable pontoons didn’t function proprely. Read more in the NY Post.

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NYC Fatal traffic accidents were at their lowest last January. During the first month of 2018, 11 people died in a traffic accident compared to respectively 18, 17, 13, 21 and 28 in January 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. The only months when the number of monthly fatal auto accidents in New York City was this low was in March 2016 and in May 2017. The monthly number of traffic deaths never went below 11 in the city.

While traffic fatalities have been on a declining trend since Vision Zero started, the opposite occurred with traffic injuries. They have been on a rising trend. However recent numbers seem to show some signs of stabilization.  4,351 people were injured in a car accident in New York City in January 2018. That’s a little bit less than the 4,383 people injured in January 2017 but more than respectively the 3,654, 3,449, 3,899 and 3,993 people injured in January 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.

Globally, traffic accidents continue to increase in New York City. Despite being lower than most previous months, the number of traffic accidents in New York City reached 17,762 in January 2018 compared to respectively 17,126, 17,798, 15,977, 16,597, 15,599 in January 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. January  is usually a month during which traffic accidents are lower than other months. The number of accidents is usually below the trend line in January.

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location of the fatal pedestrian accident BK NYCTwo young pedestrians died a 3 adults were injured after being hit by a reckless driver in Brooklyn, NYC, on Monday afternoon. 44 year Dorothy Burns was behind the wheel of her Volvo Sedan when she slowly drove through a red light and drove into pedestrians crossing the road at the intersection of Ninth Street and Fifth Ave  in Park Slope (see Google Map picture for location). Then she crashed into another car.

A 20-month-old boy, Joshua Lew, and a 4 year old  girl, Abigaeil Blumenstein, were killed in the accident. Their mothers, 34-year-old Ruthie Ann Blumenstein and 33-year-old Lauren Lew were both hospitalized. Ruthie Ann Blumenstein, a talented Broadway actress also known as Ruthie Ann Miles, is pregnant. She is still in critical condition . A male pedestrian was also hospitalized after being injured in the accident.

Disturbing videos of the accident show the driver slowly running the red light and ten picking up speed and almost intentionally plowing into pedestrians before continuing and crashing into another car.

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