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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NYC construction workers safetyIn an effort to reduce the number of construction workers injured or killed in New York City, Mayor de Blasio introduced at the end of last year “Intro. 1447-C”, a bill requiring each construction worker to attend 40 hours minimum of safety training to be able to work at a New York construction site (see previous blog).

Therefore by March 1 2018, hard hats working on a NYC construction site will have to show that they attended at least 10 hours of safety training within the previous five years if they want to continue working. Workers can do so by attending an OSHA 10 class.  Workers can Google” OSHA 10 training NYC” to find many options available during the week as well as during the week-end.  During an OSHA 10 hours training course, workers will learn basic work place safety and how to reduce the risk of accidents. They will participate in interactive exercises and study real life cases. Subjects will include fall protection, personal protective equipment, electrocution and more.

By December 1st 2018, construction workers are required to complete OSHA 10 and 20 additional training hours specified by DOB or OSHA 30. Workers also have the option to attend a DOB-approved 100-hour training program.

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15 people died and 5,450 were injured in 19,983 auto accidents in New York City in October. October is usually a bad month for car accidents in the city. As shown in the graphs below the total number of accidents was above the trend line in October.  The monthly number of traffic injuries was also the second highest number ever recorded in the city. The highest number of crash injuries was 5,557 last May. While the total number of crashes and related injuries have been steadily growing over the years, the number of people dying in crashes declined since 2013 when Vision Zero was launched. The number of people dying in car accidents went from 35 in October 2013 to 25 in October 2014, 26 in October 2015, 14 in October 2016 and 15 this last October. In 4 years fatal crashes declined by more than 50%. Additionally for the last two years the number of traffic deaths was below the trend line for the month of October while in the past it was always above it during this specific month.

car accidents injuries and deaths NYC October 2017
Despite all the Vision Zero efforts, crash injuries are on a rising trend.  Since last May their monthly number stayed above 5,000. Motorist injuries are the main cause of this rising trend. While in October 2013 motorist injuries accounted for less than a third of the total number of injuries, four years later they account for almost half of them. On the other hand, passenger injuries have been declining over the last four years. Distracted driving is suspected to be a factor. When drivers are alone in their cars they maybe more tempted to use their electronic equipment than when they travel with passengers.

crash injuries New York City October 2017
The number of monthly deadly crashes in New York City stayed below 25 for more than a year. It is the first time that the number of monthly fatal accidents stayed below 25 for that long. The highest number was 24 in June followed by 22 in September. The last time this number was above 25 was in June, 2016 when 29 people died in car accidents in the city. The city speed reduction from 30 mph to 25 mph may have been a factor in the recent decrease in fatal crashes.

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A 12 year old boy died in a fire accident in Queens, NYC. Thomas Curly was sleeping in his bedroom Sunday around 3:00 am when a fire erupted in the apartment he was living in with his family on Ocean Promenade near Beach 123rd Street in Rockaway Park. Thomas was living on the sixth floor of a five story building with his grandfather, his mother and his mother’s boyfriend. All of them were able to escape except for Thomas who got stuck in his bedroom. According to investigators, the fire was accidentally set by someone smoking in the apartment. Additionally there were no smoke alarms in the apartment. Smoke alarms are required by law in New York City. They may have saved the life of the young boy.

A few hours later another fire erupted in Harlem on First Ave near Tito Puente Way.  The fire ravaged an apartment on the seventh floor of a 32 story building. A 64 year old woman was found dead by the firefighters. Another victim was transported to the hospital. Read more in the NY Daily News

 

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accident scene3 pedestrians died and 6 were injured including 2 critically in 4 different motor vehicle accidents in New York City that all occurred early Sunday morning during the supermoon.

The first accident occurred on the Upper East Side at 2:00 am. A 29 year old pedestrian suffered severe head trauma after being hit by a car. According to the NY Daily News, the pedestrian was crossing First Avenue at the intersection of 82nd Street against the red light. He was hit by a vehicle that was crossing the intersection with the green light. The pedestrian was rushed to the hospital to be treated.

Two hours later, around 4:00 am a pedestrian was killed in a Queens crash. The 71 year old victim was attempting to cross the Belt Parkway near Farmers Blvd in Springfield Gardens when he was hit by a car. The man was rushed to the hospital where he died from his injuries.

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A cyclist died from his injury after he was struck by a car in New York City. The accident occurred on November 17 around 2:40 pm. 84 year old Yau-Teg Fung, of Queens was riding his bike on Albertson Street near Fleet Street when he collided with a car driven by an 80 year old woman. He suffered a massive head injury after being thrown off his bike. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. He died from his injuries after 10 days of hospitalization. The police told the NY Daily News that the driver had stopped at a stop sign and she was in the intersection when the cyclist hit her rear door. No criminal charges were filed.

 

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distracted-driving-can-cause-accidents-1Last year the number of fatal auto accidents reached a record high in the US. Despite unclear data, mobile devices are suspected to be a main factor in these accidents.

Mobile phone addiction is real and the consequences are deadly when people use their phone while driving. The wireless industry knows it. Big tech companies have  developed sophisticated tools to prevent these deaths but they don’t implement them for fear of seeing their profits decreasing.

Almost 10 years ago Apple submitted a patent for a technology that had the capacity to disable any function of a handled computing device that may interfere with safe driving.  While submitting the license , in 2008, Apple stated “Texting while driving has become so widespread that it is doubtful that law enforcement will have any significant effect on stopping the process.”  For unknown reasons, the license was not issued until 2014. Anyway Apple never deployed it.

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A 14 year old cyclist died after being struck by a car in NYC Saturday a little before 6:pm. Edwin Ajacalon from Guatemala was working as a delivery boy for a local restaurant. He was crossing Fifth Ave in Greenwood when he was hit by a BMW. According to the NY Daily News, the BMW had the green light.

A surveillance video shows the car slamming into the bicyclist at full speed. A witness said he saw the cyclist going up in the air and falling onto the windshield. The witness also said the car then continued on its way dragging the boy down the block. An off duty cop saw the scene and was able to block the BMW with his own car forcing the driver to stop. Both the cyclist and the BMW driver were transported to the hospital.Edwin Ajacalon died from his injuries. He arrived in Brooklyn a year ago. His parents are too poor to come to the US to reclaim his body. Edwin was sharing a bedroom with five other delivery boys and was sending money to his parents in Guatemala. The driver of the BMW was cooperating with the police.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN4lGT-Ghis

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NYC Fatal car accident locationA man died in a car accident  in Queens, NYC on Saturday night. 18 year old Xylique Lovelace-Loney was driving his car on Sutter Avenue in Ozone Park when he got T-boned by another car coming from 80th Street.  The impact was so intense that Xylique’s car careened into two other parked cars.

People who witnessed or heard the accident ran to the rescue. Xylique was traped in his mangled car and the crowd around him was talking to him and trying to to keep him alive until the arrival of the emergency team.

Firefighters had to cut the car to free the victim who was rushed to the hospital. Unfortunately he couldn’t be saved.

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A pedestrian died from his injuries one day after being the victim of a hit and run accident in Manhattan early Tuesday. The police released a gruesome surveillance video  of the accident (see below). The footage shows the driver heading east E. 14th Street and slamming into the pedestrian while making a left turn onto Union Square East. The victim is 34 year old Adrian Blanc. An executive chef at Hill and Bay, Blanc was planning to get married in Venezuela next month. After the accident he was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, He passed away the following day. Yesterday the police announced that they found the car that hit him.  It is dark-colored Jeep Renegade that belonged to Zip Car. The police now have to find out who was behind the wheel at the time of the accident. There is an epidemic of  hit and run accidents in New York City. On average there is one person every week who dies in a hit and run accident in New York City. Yesterday the City Council passed a bill to crack down on these type of accidents. (see previous blog )

 

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hit and runOn average there is one fatal hit and run accident every week in New York City and too often the police will never be able to identify the driver.  Out of 44,865 hit-and-runs reported to the NYPD in the 2016 fiscal year, there were only 510 arrests. To fight this epidemic, the City Council passed a new bill yesterday. The bill is named after Queens DJ Jinx  Paul who was killed in a hit and tun accident last year in Brooklyn. It was introduced by Coucilman Idanis Rodriguez (D-Manhattan). Rodriguez proposes to create a system similar to the existing Amber Alert.  The idea is that the police use the existing Amber Alert technology to send out an alert of hit and run drivers with the available information. The NYPD supports the bill as long as they have an option to op out in case the alert may compromise the investigation or if they don’t have sufficient information.

Read more in the NY Daily News

Picture: courtesy of Maxpixel