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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Two men were injured in a manhole explosion in New York, on Saturday afternoon around 2:30 PM.  The men  were contractors for Con Edison.  They were  moving underground telephone lines at the intersection of second Avenue and E. 110 Street in Harlem when the explosion occurred. A Con Edison sign outside the manhole said “Repairing your electrical system”. The two workers suffered burns to their faces.  They were rushed to the hospital. One of them was in serious condition. The other one only suffered minor injuries. Witnesses said they heard a loud boom before seeing a lot of smoke coming out of the manhole.  The electricity went off in the neighborhood for 30 minutes after the accident. Read more in the New York Daily News

Manhole accidents are unfortunately all too common in New York City  in the summertime.  During particularly hot days in the city, the air conditioning usage leads to an increase in the consumption of electricity all over the city. Over heated electrical cables then become more susceptible to fail. Often the insulation that protects the cable breaks down. Insulation break down is one of the most common cable failures resulting in manhole explosions.

With 94,000 miles of cable, New York City has the largest underground electrical system in the world. Some of the cables are very old and were installed prior to 1930. These cables are suffering not only from corrosion caused by the salty water leaking down on them during the winter but also from rat bites and vibrations from traffic.  According to an article in NBC News manhole explosions are occurring in New York City more than in any other city of the US. A report from Con Edison  indicates that in 2014, 3,349 manhole events were recorded during the year. A manhole event is an accident classification that ranges from a few puffs of smoke from a short-circuit to the dangerous and frightening explosions that hurl metal discs weighing anywhere from 70 to 300 pounds toward the heavens. Read the complete article here 

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accident sceneA pedestrian died in a Bronx car accident  on Friday afternoon. The 77 year old man was trying to cross the Hutchinson River Parkway near the Pelham parkway when he was hit by a car. He was rushed to the hospital where he died. The driver who hit him stayed at the scene of the accident. He wasn’t charged. Read more in the NY Daily News

Also in the Bronx during the weekend 4 people were injured in a car accident related to speed.  Around 6 AM on Sunday morning the driver of a black sedan lost control of his vehicle and crashed into several pillars before hitting another car.  The accident occurred near Sands Place  in Middletown, Pelham Bay. It is a miracle that nobody died according to the NY Daily News

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accident scene6 pedestrians were injured including 2 critically in a bizarre van accident in NYC on Saturday afternoon. A crazy van driver in a white religious robe  started to accelerate on Brookville Boulevard near 143rd Avenue in Rosedale, Queens, plowing into cars and pedestrians.  A teenage boy and a teenage girl were sent into the air.  The boy landed on the back of the van. The girl fell in front of it and the driver just ran over her.  The van then sideswiped another car and  ran over  another pedestrian before driving  into the pond of Brooksville Park.  The driver then came out of the van dressed in a religious robe and screamed “hallelujah,  praise Jesus”. On one of the van’s windows one could read “Psalm 24, Psalm 37, Psalm 27” written by hand in white letters.  The police apprehended him and took him to the hospital for  psychiatric evaluation.  Some witnesses said he looked like he was on drugs. The pedestrians injured in the accident where all rushed to the hospital as well.  The two teenagers suffered critical injuries. Three other pedestrians where in serious condition and another one suffered minor  injury. Read more the NY Daily News

Also in Queens, NYC, on Friday afternoon, an armed driver who injured two officers after trying to escape the police was arrested. He is facing attempted murder charges. The driver was pulled over after not respecting a stop sign on 110th Ave.  Police officers also noticed that the car had a broken taillight. As the as one of the police officer was asking for papers through the window, the driver accelerated dragging the officer into a parked car.  He then hit another officer before to crash his car. He was arrested and the police found a gun in his car. The driver was identified as 38-year-old Kyle Freistat. (Read more in the NY Daily News)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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accident sceneAn elderly pedestrian was fatally struck by a yellow taxi in New York City on Friday. 80 year old Barbara Horn, an Upper East Side resident, was crossing Third Ave in the crosswalk when she was hit by a taxi. The accident occurred a little bit after 6 PM a few blocks away  from where the victim lived.The driver, identified as 49 year old Syed Ulah was making a left turn from 70th street. He struck the elderly woman and dragged her half a block before stopping.   She was transported to the hospital where she died. The taxi driver was arrested and charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian. Read more in the Gothamist

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accident sceneA box truck slammed into a store front injuring two people in New York City last week.  The truck accident occurred on Utica Ave near Church Ave on East Flatbush in Brooklyn, NYC. A video surveillance captured the frightening accident.  A  box truck driver who wanted to park waited for a previous car to leave a spot in front of a 99 cents store. After the car left, the truck driver started to maneuver to get in the parking spot.  All of sudden he just lost control of the vehicle,  knocked down a parking sign and crashed into the 99 Cents store.  A mother and her child walking on the sidewalk were almost killed. The child was ok but the mother was injured and transported to the hospital. The driver was found unresponsive in the cabin of the truck.  He may have suffered a seizure. He was transported to the hospital in critical condition. Read more in the NY Daily News

Later on at night in New York City another driver was also found unresponsive in his car after he lost control of his vehicle. Unfortunately he couldn’t be saved and died at the hospital. 54 year old Daniel Rainis was exiting the Grand Central Parkway at Winchester Boulevard in Bellerose, Queens, when he veered off the parkway into the woods.  No other vehicles were involved in the fatal accident. Read more Here

 

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5 people were injured in a collision between a yellow cab and a SUV in Manhattan early Wednesday morning in NYC. Two people were critically injured and two others were in serious condition, the fifth person only suffered minor injury. Among the victim was a two year old baby. An investigation is still ongoing to find out the exact cause of the accident.

The accident occurred around 1:20 am in Chelsea. The yellow taxi mini-van was driving West on 23rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The driver was transporting two passengers, a male and a female. For reasons that are still being investigated the taxi driver rammed into an Acura MDX SUV.  A woman was driving the SUV. She had two passengers, another woman and a 2 year old child.

A witness told the New York Post that the taxi female passenger had blood all over her face while the SUV passenger and the baby seemed ok. Pictures in the New York Post show that both cars were seriously damaged. The front of the taxi was completely destroyed.

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NY Governor Andrew Cuomo  wants to find out if texting and driving accidents in New York could be prevented with the help of a textalyzer. Yesterday the governor announced that he mandated the Traffic Safety Committee to study the possibility of providing police officers with textalyzers. The textalyzer is a portable electronic device that can be plug into the phone of a driver to determine if they were using their cell phone just before an accident occurred.

Supporters of the textalyzer says the device will help the police determine the cause of an accident and it will also act as a deterrent. It will aid in preventing drivers from using their phones while driving.

Others are opposed to it because they see it as an invasion of privacy.  Civil libertarians argue that automatically handing your cell phone to a police officer violates due process. They believe police should have to get a warrant before being able to access someone’s phone.

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Daniel-Pollack-1Sexual grooming can psychologically damage a child or a teenager for the rest of her or his life. In a recent article published in Youth Today, Daniel Pollack, a professor at Yeshiva University’s School of Social Work in New York City is raising awareness about child sexual groomers.

According to Pollack who is also a frequent expert witness in cases involving child abuse and foster care, child sexual groomers are very difficult to catch. They often hide in plain sight and pose like do-gooder teachers, friends, scout leaders, coaches, neighbors, foster parents and first cousins. They have the instinct of a cockroach or a chameleon and the craftiness of a fox.  Just like these animals, child groomers hate to be exposed to the light therefore one of the best ways to scare them is to raise awareness among organizations dealing with children and talk about them.

Read the complete article here 

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children at campConcussion is one of the most commonly sustained injuries by children and teenagers when they are at camp.  Therefore it is important that camps not only have specific requirements and guidelines to prevent traumatic brain injuries but also have a medical staff that is trained to recognize and treat concussions.

In regards to prevention, camps should always make sure that children wear proper helmets for activities involving motorized vehicles as well as activities such as skate boarding and skating.  Helmets also have to be mandatory when kids are involved in adventure activities such as climbing, spelunking or zip lining.  Children should also wear a helmet when bike riding as well as when horseback riding including pony riding.

Despite actively preventing concussions, accidents still happen and the camp medical team has to be ready.  The camp medical staff has to be able to recognize and evaluate a concussion sustained by a camp goer.  After  the camp clinician properly evaluates the young patient, he will have to communicate not only with the child but also with the parents to assure a proper recovery.

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bicycle garbage truck accident locationA garbage truck fatally hit a bicyclist in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NYC early Saturday morning. The driver didn’t stop.  27-year-old Neftaly Ramirez had just finished his shift at a Brooklyn Pizzeria. He was biking home to the Lower East Side around 12:30 am. As he was riding on Franklin Street near Noble Street in Greenpoint, a garbage truck driving South on Franklin hit him. The garbage truck driver continued on his way leaving the bicyclist dying in the street behind him. The investigation is still ongoing and the police haven’t apprehended the truck driver yet. Therefore it is still unclear if the driver was aware that he hit someone. Ramirez was found by the police with trauma all over his body. He was pronounced dead by EMS soon after their arrival at the scene of the accident.

Franklin Ave in Greeenpoint is a link between Kent Ave and the Pulaski bridge. It is narrow but busy with traffic day and night. According to a local resident, trucks are “flying down the street all night”. There is a shared bike and motor vehicle lane that is completely unprotected (see picture). A large electronic sign was installed at the location of the accident  by the police to ask potential witnesses to report information. Detectives were also looking for potential footage from security cameras. So far the police said that the truck that hit Ramirez was green with white with yellow lettering. It was most probably a private garbage truck. Private dump trucks are among the most dangerous vehicles for pedestrians and bicyclists. They have the highest NYC pedestrian-kill rate per mile driven. One may hope that the police may finally launch a safety initiative directed at private garbage trucks but that is not what happening. The police were seen on Sunday afternoon ticketing bicyclists on Franklin Ave.

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