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.
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Thankfully nobody was injured or killed in another NYC accident involving a garbage truck belonging to a private company. On Saturday morning, 40 year old Anthony Castaldo was drunk behind the wheel of his garbage truck. He was driving on 60th Street between 19th Street and 20th Street in Borough Park, Brooklyn, when he lost control of his vehicle, slammed into 8 cars, then a tree before ending up in the front yard of a private property. He tried to run away on foot but he was quickly caught by the police. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, drunken and reckless driving and resisting arrest. Castaldo was immediately suspended by his employer, Viking Sanitation, a private company with a garage in Bath Beach.

A month ago, a 78 year old woman had her leg crushed by a private garbage truck in Brooklyn (see previous blog). Two month ago a pedestrian was killed by another private garbage truck driver. The driver had killed another person with his truck 6 months before but was still behind the wheel (see previous blog).

Private carting companies are responsible for the deaths of 43 pedestrians between 2010 and 2017.  They have a terrible reputation, forcing drivers to work extended hours and cover large geographical zones. How many innocent people will still suffer terrible injuries or die until the City does something to strengthen the regulations for these reckless companies?

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Staten Island Pedestrian accident locationA pedestrian died in New York City on Sunday morning. He was hit by a drunk driver around 4:40 am. 32 year old David Bloomer, a father of four, was crossing Tompkins Ave at Broad St. in Stapleton, Staten Island, NYC when he was struck by a car. The driver tried to speed off but one of David’s cousins rallied a group of people to run after him. They were able to catch him a block away from the accident. The driver, identified as 25 year old, John Rudder was allegedly drunk.

During the accident, Rudder hit Bloomer so violently that the pedestrian went flying into the air and crashed through the windshield of a jeep that was parked nearby. The firefighters had to remove the roof of the jeep to try to save him. Unfortunately Bloomer died at the scene of the accident.

Bloomer left behind him 2 children, 17 year old Charlie Perez, 8 year old Mikayla Papon and 2 stepdaughters, 14 year old and 6 year old Yolanda and Dakota Makins.  He was a DJ and a beloved member of the Stapleton Community.

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MTA BX21 busA pickup truck crashed into a MTA bus injuring 13 bus passengers in the Bronx, NYC. The crash occurred on  Friday afternoon around 1:20 pm. 25 passengers  were on board of the Bx21 MTA bus. As it was making a stop at E. 180th St and Morris Park Ave, it got rear-ended by a pickup truck. The impact was so intense that 13 bus passengers suffered personal injury.  11 passengers were transported to the hospital to be treated. Among them, 6 were seriously injured. Two other passengers who were also injured refused medical attention. The driver suffered from lower back pain. The police are still investigating the cause of the accident. The pickup driver wasn’t arrested.

Read more in the NY Daily News

Picture: Courtesy of Wikipedia

 

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New York Personal Injury Peter SagirCongratulations to our partner NYC car accident lawyer Peter J. Saghir who obtained a verdict in Queens in a difficult liability case involving a pedestrian who was struck by a car at 42nd Street and 12th Avenue in Manhattan.

The trial was bifurcated and the defendant denied all liability and faulted the plaintiff for the happening of the accident. The driver claimed that the plaintiff was running across the street outside of the crosswalk to catch a bus at the time of the accident while the plaintiff maintained she was walking across 42nd Street in the crosswalk with the light in her favor. Geico, who insured the driver, refused to tender the full policy prior to trial.

After summations and 25 minutes of deliberation, the jury of 3 men and 3 women returned a unanimous verdict finding the driver was 100% negligent and the plaintiff completely free from fault. After the verdict, Geico tendered the full policy and the driver made a substantial personal contribution.

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12 people died and 4,578 were injured in traffic accidents in New York City in April. Among the fatalities were 7 pedestrians, 3 cyclists and 2 motor vehicle passengers. The number of fatalities recorded last April is the lowest number of traffic fatalities ever recorded in April since Vision Zero started. Last year during the same month 20 people died in NYC motor vehicle accidents. In 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013, there were respectively 14, 19, 21 and 15 fatalities.

Traffic fatalities NYC April 2018
Sadly, the number of people injured in accidents in the city was higher in April 2018 than it was in April 2017. It wasn’t as high as in 2016 but it was higher than in 2014 and 2015 and also back at the level where it was before Vision Zero was implemented.  While pedestrians and cyclists account for most deaths, motorists and passengers sustain most of the injuries.Motor vehcile accident injuries New York City April 2018

Motorists injuries continue to be on an ascending trend with a record number of 2,117 motorists injured last April compared to respectively, 1,922, 2,061, 1,363, 1,305 and 1,599 in 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. Distracted driving might be one of the reasons why this number continues to increase.

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A security guard died and another worker was injured in a construction accident in New York last Saturday.  67-year-old Harry Ramnauth was crushed to death by an 8 by 14-foot piece of glass that fell on him from the first floor of the Central Park Tower construction site. Upon completion, The Central Park Tower will become the second tallest skyscraper in the United States, surpassing the Willis Tower. The glass plate, weighing several thousand pounds, was being installed on the first floor of the building. It fell on the security guard as workers were in the process of moving it. Another 27-year old construction worker who was trying to help the security guard was also injured. When the EMS team arrived they found the man with severe body trauma. He was unresponsive and unconscious. They rushed him to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved.

A construction stop was ordered as the DOB investigates the exact cause of the accident. A violation for failing to safeguard the site was also issued to Extell and Bovis Lend Lease which oversees the project.

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ATV on paved roadEven though driving an ATV on the road might be allowed in your town, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recently released an announcement urging ATV users to stay off paved roads.

According to the agency, ATVs which are designed for off road use are more difficult to control on paved surfaces and are at risk of over turning. Obviously there is also a higher risk of collision with cars and other motor vehicles when driving an ATV on a paved road.

ATVs are dangerous vehicles. Between 2010 and 2013, 430,000 people were treated for injuries related to ATV accidents and 2,400 died from these accidents. Among the 2,400 deaths, 770 occurred on a paved road, That’s more than 30% of all ATV deaths.

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OxyContinWhen Purdue Pharma launched OxyContin in 1995, the Food and Drug Administration permitted the company to make a unique claim for it: that its long acting formula would reduce its appeal to drug abusers who preferred short-acting opiates such as Percocet and Vicodin.

The exact opposite occurred and OxyContin became the most expensive and the most sought after drug on the black market. The New York Times obtained a copy of a confidential report from the Justice Department that indicates that shortly after the new drug was launched company officials were aware that the drug was being crushed, snorted, stolen from pharmacies and that doctors were being criminally charged for selling it to drug abusers.

A four year investigation found that despite being fully aware that OxyContin was one of the most abused drugs, the drug company failed to warn about its dangers, lied and continued to promote it as a drug less prone to abuse than any other prescription opioids. In 2006 the prosecutors recommended that 3 Purdue Pharma executives be indicted on felony charges. One of the charges was conspiracy to defraud the United States. That meant jail time for the 3 executives.  At the time, Georges Bush was the president and Justice Department officials declined the recommendation. Instead, the case was settled in 2007.

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A cyclist died after he was doored by a car in Queens, NYC, and ended up under the wheels of a truck. The accident occurred yesterday afternoon in Long Island City. The 45 year old man was riding his bike North on 21st Street near 46th Avenue when the passenger of a car parked in the street suddenly opened his door and hit him. The impact sent the cyclist flying  in the middle of the street in front of a box truck. The  truck driver didn’t have the time to stop and ran over him. The man was transported to the hospital in serious condition. He later died from his injuries The car driver and the truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident. The truck driver was taken into custody after the police found that he didn’t have a valid license.

Read more on the CBS New York website

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accident sceneSadly NYC motorcycle accidents are always increasing when the warm days come back in the city.  Over the last few days two people died in two separate motorcycle accidents in New York City.

Last Saturday night a motorcyclist was killed after he collided with a minivan in Queens. The accident occurred a little bit after 10:14 pm at the intersection of 221st Street and 113th Drive in Cambria Heights. The motorcyclist who was travelling west on 113th Drive crashed into the passenger door of a minivan travelling North on 221st Street. The motorcyclist was taken to the hospital in critical condition. He later died from his injuries. The 55 year old van driver stayed at the scene of the accident. He suffered minor injury. (Read more in Pix11)

Another motorcyclist died in Brooklyn. 27 year old Luimy Acosta-Collado was riding a dirt bike on Hancock Street in Bushwick on Monday night around 10:50 pm when he struck a car that was doubled parked. He landed on his back and was pinned under a SUV. The bike continued on its way without its driver and crashed into another car. Luimy just lived a half block away. Right after the accident occurred, neighbors as well as his wife ran in the street to try to help him. His wife was frantic and crying. She was saying “please don’t let my husband died”.  The man was rushed to the hospital but he didn’t survive. The driver of the SUV, a 24 year old woman stayed at the scene of the accident. She wasn’t hurt.  As the police arrived to investigate the accident they were unable to find the dirt bike. It was apparently stolen shortly after the accident occurred. The dirt bike that Luimy was riding didn’t belong to him. Dirt bikes are illegal in New York City and neighbors believe that the owner of the bike took it back before it got confiscated. (Read more in the NY Daily News)

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