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 Tagged with car accident nyc

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HitRun2A bicyclist was fatally hit by a car that didn’t stop after an accident  last Saturday in Brooklyn, NYC. The police believe that the driver hit the bicyclist intentionally.  35-year-old Matthew Von Olen was riding back home from a shift at a bar in downtown Manhattan when he was struck by a car in Williamsburg.  A video obtained by the police  shows that the driver intentionally hit the bicyclist and killed him.  The car driver first slowed down at the level of the bicyclist who was riding in the bike lane and then hit him. As Von Olen fell off his bike, the car driver hit him a second time and then ran over him and dragged him about 20 to 30 feet before fleeing. Von Olen suffered severe trauma and died from his injuries. The police are still looking for the car driver who was driving a black 2014-2015 Chevy Camaro with gold New York State license plates (see picture from surveillance camera).  Read more in the Gothamist

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image After a 30-year-old pedestrian was killed by an unlicensed driver who jumped the curb in Brooklyn (see previous blog ), NYC, her family petitioned the Brookyn DA’s office to initiate a grand jury investigation into the accident and obtain justice for their loved one.

Last December Victoria Nicodemus was walking on  a Fort Greene sidewalk with her boyfriend  when she was  fatally  struck by a SUV that apparently  jumped the curb to avoid a bus. The SUV was driven by  39-year-old Marlon Sewell. The driver had his license suspended and wasn’t supposed to be behind the wheel. Also according to a recent article from the Gothamist, a preliminary  police report indicated that Sewell jumped the curb to avoid the bus in front of him but in a statement yesterday, Transportation Altternatives Deputy Director Caroline Samponaro said that Sewell made the reckless decision to drive on the sidewalk to avoid waiting behind the bus.

Immediately after the accident, Sewell was charged with two misdemeanors and thought he would get away with a $500 ticket. However after the Brooklyn DA office agreed to open a grand jury investigation things changed. Yesterday the grand jury voted for Sewell to be indicted for second-degree manslaughter.

 

 

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Last year 342 car accidents in New York City were caused by fatigued or drowsy drivers and 626 by drivers who fell asleep behind the wheel according to NYPD statistics. Driver fatigue is often experienced by taxi and limousine drivers who are working long shifts without proper rest.

A study conducted by the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and published last year in the the Singapore Medical Journal shows that one in 3 taxi drivers participating in the study experienced driver fatigue. The study also found that the risk of dozing off unexpectedly was much higher after 10 hours of driving.

Symptoms of driver fatigue include trouble concentrating on the road, unexpected nodding, short term memory issues, longer time to react when facing a dangerous situation, yawning and rubbing eyes as well as unexpectedly drifting out of the lane.

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An elderly woman that caused a 10-car crash in New York City last Sunday died from her injuries on Tuesday. 78 year old Barbara Capone was driving her car on Travis Ave in Staten Island when she hit a car. She didn’t stop. Instead she sped up and crashed into several other vehicles waiting at a red light at the intersection of Travis Ave and Victory Blvd.  The impact was so strong that her car went airborne and landed on other vehicles waiting at the intersection. A 75 year old man was pinned inside his car and died at the scene of the accident. 10 other people were injured in the car crash including Barbara Capone and were transported to the hospital. Capone suffered severe head trauma and passed away two days later.

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FDNY_Ambulance_048A woman died and her husband was injured in a car accident in New York City on Sunday. 86 year old Andrew Huang was driving his car with Amy Huang, his 83 year old wife on 34th Ave near 91st Street in Elmhurst, Queens. All of a sudden the car accelerated and crashed into a parked car on the side of the road. The impact was so strong that the parked car jumped the curb and careened into  scaffolding. According to the police, Mr Huang may have stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal. The couple were taken to the hospital. The wife who suffered severe head and body trauma was pronounced dead upon her arrival to the hospital. The husband only suffered a cut to his arm.

Read more in DNA and NY Daily News

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New York Car AccidentTwo women were seriously injured in a car accident in New York City around 6:00 am on Tuesday morning.  One of the women was driving a livery cab and the other one was her passenger. As the driver approached the intersection of Ocean Parkway and Neptune Ave in Coney Island she lost control of the vehicle and slammed into a utility pole.

According to News12 Brooklyn a surveillance camera shows the car speeding just before the accident. The impact was so strong that the utility pole fell on the street. The front of the car was totally destroyed. The driver was badly injured and transported to the hospital in critical condition. The passenger was also inured and transported to the hospital in stable condition.

Picture: Eugene Skorodinsky‎ on Facebook

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32 year old Michelle Mignott was killed in a car accident in New York City in 2014. The two reckless drivers who were indicted in the accident will be tried in August if they don’t accept a plea deal. Richard Roman-Santos and Gerard Herbert both charged with vehicular manslaughter appeared yesterday in front of Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Vincent Del Giudice. The judge told then that if no plea agreement was reached the case would go to trial on August 1st. The two men were previously offered 3 to 9 years in jail if they pleaded guilty but they both refused.

On August 17th 2014, Herbert was driving in Brooklyn with two female passengers. One of them, Michelle Mignott was lying on the back seat. As he was making a left turn, Roman-Santos who was driving at a speed of 94 miles per hours crashed into him. Mignott was killed in the accident. Herbert who first refused to take a breathalyzer was later tested with .20.  Roman Santos accepted the breathalyzer and was found to be at the limit of .08.

The two men are expected to be back in front of the judge on June 7th and will have to say if they accept the plea deal or not.

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NYC fatal bicycle accidentA bicyclist was struck and killed by a reckless driver in New York City yesterday night. The 26 year old driver of a Honda Sedan was caught on a surveillance camera recklessly speeding on Brooklyn streets moments before the accident. Witnesses told CBS news that they saw the car speeding on Avenue P and blowing two red lights. At the second light the reckless driver collided with a car that was crossing the intersection with the green light. The impact was so strong that the two cars careened away into a nearby bicyclist who got pinned under one of them. Witnesses ran to the scene of the accident and lifted the car to liberate the bicyclist but he couldn’t be saved and died from his injuries. Firefighters had to cut one of the cars in half to free the driver. Both car drivers only suffered minor injuries. The reckless driver is now in police custody and he is facing criminal charges.

Picture source: courtesy of New York Rescue Response Team on Twitter

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A pedestrian died in NYC after being struck by a car that drove over him and didn’t stop. Sunday morning around 2:30 am, 43 year old Doodnach Lalcahn started to cross the intersection of 115th Ave and 131st Street in Ozone Park Queens, NYC, when he fell on the ground. A video surveillance shows a car driving over him, slowing down and then continuing on its way. Other vehicles drove by without stopping . Finally a good Samaritan parked his car in front of the victim to prevent other cars from hitting him. Unfortunately it was too late. The man who suffered severe head trauma died at the scene of the accident.

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DOT vehicleAmong its many responsibilities The NYC Department of Transportation is in charge of implementing Vision Zero a campaign to reduce fatal traffic accidents in New York City. Therefore it would be expected that DOT employees driving around the city lead by example and drive carefully but some of them seem to believe the rules don’t apply to them.

A PIX11 investigation documented by shocking video shows that some DOT employees are complete reckless drivers. One of them was caught using a laptop while driving, another one was caught running a red light and a DOT car was repeatedly seen driving at high speed in a school zone.

PIX11 also found that since the Zero Vision Initiative started in 2014, DOT employees received more than 500 summonses for  driving recklessly. Further since the start of Vision Zero in 2014, city vehicles have received 11,367 summonses.