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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altonsterlingPhilando CastilleAlton Sterling and Philando Castille are the two most recent victims of an epidemic of police brutality and discrimination against African Americans all over this country. These two men died this week in two separate incidents during which both of them were literally executed by the police.

On Tuesday a gruesome video circulated among social media and news channels showing two policemen from Baton Rouge, Louisiana murdering Alton Sterling while they were  holding him down on the ground. The video shows that he was not resisting.

A day later, Philando Castille was in his car with his wife and daughter in Falcon Heighth, Minesota, when he got stopped by the police for a a defective tail light. As he was reaching to his back pocket get his I.D in his wallet the cop  shot him for no reason. His wife streamed a video live on Facebook as he was dying in front of her.

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A 76-year-old pedestrian who was struck by a car two months ago in Queens, NYC, died from her injuries. Maria Damaco was crossing the  intersection of Fresh Pond Road and Myrtle Ave Avenue when she was hit by car making a left turn. The car driver, a 36-year-old woman,  stayed at the scene of the accident.

Read more in the NY Daily News


 

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A 42 year old woman suffered serious hand injury while playing with pyrotechnics in New York City,  the night before July 4th.  According to the police, she may have lost one or two fingers. The accident happened in Flatbush, Brooklyn around 5:00 am.  The woman was transported to the ER to be treated. Read more in the NY Daily News

 According to the CPSC, firework accidents kill an average  of 7 people every year in the US.  In its recently published 2015 fireworks annual report the CPSC reported 11 deaths related to firework accidents last year. 9 of them were related to re-loadable aerial devices and 2 of them to homemade fireworks. An estimated 11,900 people were brought to the ER last year in the US after they injured themselves when handling fireworks. Among them 8,000 were injured between June 29th and July 29th.  61%,of the patients treated in the ER for fireworks injuries were male patients with many of them young adults and children. Sparklers caused 1,900 injuries, firecrackers 1,200 and bottle rockets 800.  Most injuries were burn injuries. A third of the injuries were hand and finger injuries, a quarter of them were head, face and ear injuries. Eyes injuries account for 16%, legs 15% and arms 4%. 85% of the patients treated for fireworks injuries didn’t require hospitalization.

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A few days after a NYC toddler died by falling from a window, another one injured himself badly in a similar manner. The 5 year old boy fell from the 5th floor of a 6-story building and miraculously survived. The New York Daily News reported that something may have broken the fall and saved the boy.

The apartment where the boy was living had no window guards. In New  York City,  family’s with young children must have their apartment protected with window guards. It’s the law. The building owner is responsible to make sure that any of the apartments where a family with young children lives has window guards installed.

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dementia-595638_960_720A New York City nursing home security guard punched an 83 year old woman suffering from Alzheimer’s in the face. 55 year old Michael Adagba was working as a security guard at the Vanderbilt Nursing Home on Castleton Ave. in Tompkinsville, Staten Island last Friday. Around 7:30 p.m. an 83 year old Alzheimer’s patient tried to exit the building.  Exit seeking is a type of wandering that is common among patients suffering from Alzheimer’s. Often the patient is trying to return to a secure place, a home, a family or a workplace. Nursing home staff including security guards are taught to address this type of wandering in a peaceful way . They are supposed to be trained to talk to wandering patients in a friendly way, to make them feel secure.   The Alzheimer’s Association recommends that staff  listen to the reasons why a patient wants to exit and not contradict him or her but propose to go out a little later and then find a way to distract the patient. It seems like Michael Adagba didn’t have much training or experience in working with Alzheimer’s patients. So instead of trying to calm down the 83 year old patient and talking to her in a friendly way, he just punched her in the face. The poor woman suffered swelling and bruises on her face, head and body . Micheal Adagba is facing charges of felony and misdemeanor assault and harassment.

Read more in the NY Daily News

Picture: courtesy of Pixabay

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5 people died and 51 were injured in elevator accidents in New York City  last year. Last year in October a man was crushed to death as he tried to escape an elevator at the Espoir Building in Brooklyn (see previous blog). Trying to escape a stalled elevator is not a good idea says the NYC Department of Buildings in a new advertising campaign  being launched today. The campaign entitled “Stay Safe. Stay Put.” is designed to remind New Yorkers that if  they are stuck in an elevator, the safest place to be is inside the car.

Every day millions of people use the 71,000 elevators  existing in New York City.  New York City elevators are relatively safe. The number of people  injured in an elevator accident in the city decreased from 105 in 2007 to 51 last year.

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NYPD3 NYPD officers were injured in a car crash in New York City. The three cops were driving in an unmarked car on  Linden Blvd. near Sutphin Blvd. in South Jamaica, Queens. They were responding to a shooting and they had the lights and sirens on. On a nearby street 25 year old Edward Howard was driving his car while smoking a joint. He made a left turn on Linden Blvd at the same time the police car was crossing the intersection and he T-boned the police car.

The impact was so strong that the police car  careened into another parked car. The 3 cops  suffered personal injury  and were transported to the hospital. The stoned driver had watery eyes and an unfinished joint was found in the car’s cup holder.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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A 79 year old woman was  struck by a truck in New York City last Friday. The woman was crossing Second Avenue at the intersection of 58th Street when a pick up truck slammed into her. People ran to the rescue but her feet were stuck under the truck. One leg was mangled and the other one broken. She had blood on her face as well. She was transported in critical condition to the hospital. The pick up truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident. He was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian.

Read more in the NY Daily News 

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A pedestrian died, a bicyclist was  critically injured and two drivers suffered personal injury in a car accident in New York City. The accident  occurred last Thursday in Queens.  56 year old Irene Lee was driving her Porsche on Horace Harding Expressway service road near the Intersection of Junction Boulevard. She lost control of her car and jumped the curb, hitting a pedestrian and a bicyclist.  She then fled the scene of the accident and hit two other cars waiting at a nearby red light. She then fled away one more time and drove North on Junction. She later had second thoughts and returned to the scene of the accident. The pedestrian, the bicyclist and one of the car drivers were transported to the hospital. The other  car driver  suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene of the crash. The pedestrian, a 21-year-old woman, suffered severe head trauma  and died from her injuries. The bicyclist, a 26 year old woman, was in critical condition.  The driver was in stable condition. Irene Lee was arrested and charged with running a red light and leaving the scene of the accident resulting in death which is a class D felony.

Read in the Gothamist  

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Harlem River HousingA 3-year old boy died after he fell from a window in a  public housing development in Harlem, New York City.  Latyre Sene fell  from the 13th floor of a building located in the Harlem River II Houses on Frederick Douglass Blvd. near W. 151st St (picture).  The window guard was found next to him. Police are investigating why the window guard fell and didn’t protect the toddler.

Building owners have the responsibility to install and maintain window guards in any apartment where a family is living with children. Because Latyre Sene’s family was illegally subletting the apartment,  it wasn’t clear if  NYCHA who owns the building was aware that a child lived in this apartment.

On Monday, a maintenance employee was seen leaving the apartment with a drill and 3 guards in his hands. Following the tragic accident, several other residents of the building also asked for a revision of their window guards.