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 brooklyn wrongful death

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A man died in a truck accident in New York City yesterday. The accident occurred yesterday afternoon on the parking lot of Decorama Building & Plumbing Supplies on Metropolitan Ave in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC. A 32 year old customer who was backing up hit 63 year old Hou Li with his flatbed truck. Hou Li, a 63 year old man who was working for Decorama Building & Plumbing Supplies died at the scene of the accident.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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accident sceneA 68 year old man died in a motorcycle accident in New York City last Saturday. Franklin Goodman, a motorcycle enthusiast, was riding his bike on Bushwick Avenue in East Williamsburg. The weather was extremely foggy and the visibility very limited. Goodman was on his way to work at Brooklyn Rebar, a construction material company. His shift was starting at 5:00 am.

Around 4:50 am a taxi making a left turn onto Montrose Ave cut through his lane. The motorcyclist slammed on the brakes, skidded on the street and stopped near a delivery truck. He suffered critical injury during the accident. The paramedics took him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Goodman was a beloved lifelong motorcyclist from Bensonhurst. He spent most of his life driving a motorcycle in the city and had no intention to stop. He had the reputation of a very careful driver. His death stunned all his entourage. He leaves behind him a wife and a daughter. Read more in the NY Daily News

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accident sceneA  NYC pedestrian was fatally struck by a dump truck. A bicyclist died after being clipped by a box truck. A pedestrian lost his life after being hit by a car. All 3 accidents occurred in Brooklyn Monday afternoon.

85 year old Rafael Nieves was walking back home from a trip to the supermarket around 1pm in Williamsburg. As he was crossing Grand Street near Lorimer a dump truck ran over him. The driver didn’t even stop. The police located him later on. According to their investigation the truck driver didn’t know he hit someone. Nieves, a Puerto Rican military veteran leaves behind him two children and five grand children.

A few hours later, around 4:45 pm, a 70 year old bicyclist died after being hit by a delivery truck. Iosif Plazinsky was riding his bike on Avenue X near Coney Island Ave. The bicyclist was hit twice by the truck. After the first collision he lost balance and fell. Then the truck veered to the right and struck him again. Plazinsky was rushed to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved. The truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident. Plazinsky was a retired construction worker from Odessa. He lived in Brighton Beach with his family. He had 3 grand children and one about to be born.

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Domino_Sugar_refineryA construction worker fell to his death in New York City on Friday morning around 8:00 am. 59 year old Wilfredo Enrique was working on the facade of  a new residential development when he fell to his death.  Enrique was employed by Two Trees Management and was working on the construction site located on the old site of the Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn. After the accident the site was closed and investigators were working on determining the exact cause of the fatal accident.

According to the most recent complaints reported on the NYC Department of Building website, the scaffold didn’t meet the building safety code standard. The worker fell approximately 4 floors from the master climbingwork platform, after Two Trees Management failed to safeguard the platform.  Since the construction started 41 complaints have been filled. The Department of Building issued a total of 27 violations, most of them immediately hazardous. 3 of them were still open at the time of the accident. Among the open violation were the use of rigging equipment by a non licensed rigger and the failure to safeguard all persons and property affected by the construction operations.

The accident occurred just a few weeks after the death of two other NYC construction workers in Queens (see previous blog). According to Union representatives, Enrique is the 29th construction worker who died over the last two years in New York City. The boom in the construction sector in New York has led to an increase in construction jobs in the city. In 2015, the New York Building Congress recorded 138,200 construction jobs, the highest in 40 years.

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matthew vo nohlen A man who fatally struck a bicyclist in NYC last July was arrested and charged with manslaughter. Last July Matthew Von Olen was riding his bike on Grand Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, when he was intentionally struck by a car.  According to acting DA Eric Gonzales, the driver recklessly swerved into the bike lane and struck the bicyclist. He hit him from behind knocking him off his bike. He then drove over him and dragged him 10 to 20 feet as he was speeding away (see previous blog). The man was identified as 56 year old Juan Maldonado from South Williamsburg. He was arrested yesterday morning. He was brought to Brooklyn Supreme Court and indicted on eight counts including leaving the scene of an accident, criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter. He may be sentenced to up to 15 years in jail if convicted. 35 year old Matthew Von Holen was the founder of BikeStock and and an avid cyclist.

Read more in the Gothamist Picture source: Facebook

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NYC MTA Subway logoOne MTA worker was seriously injured and another one died in a subway accident in NYC yesterday. The two men were working on the southbound G train track between the Fort Hamilton Parkway and Church Ave. stations in Kensington, Brooklyn. A little after midnight, a train running on the track struck them both. Emergency workers rushed to the location of the accident. One of the workers, a 53 year old man was transported to the hospital in critical condition. He later died from his injuries. The other worker, a 49 year old man, was also transported to the hospital. He was seriously injured but in stable condition. It is not clear why the two men were working on the track when the  subway train was in service. Read more in the NY Daily News

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A construction worker died after falling from a scaffolding in New York City. 31 year old Michael Buffamante was working on scaffolding at the Coney Island Wastewater Treatment Plant in Sheepsheadbay yesterday. He was installing dechlorination equipment.  A little after noon he fell from his scaffolding into a 35 foot-deep sewage tank filled with wastewater and chlorine.

FDNY divers ran to the rescue and found the young worker lying at the bottom of the tank. They brought him to the surface. The worker was in cardiac arrest after having been in the water approximately 8 minutes . The paramedic gave him CPR and transported him to the hospital in critical condition. Buffamante died at the hospital. The worker was employed by Welkin Mechanical, a construction company based in Queens. According to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the worker was wearing protective equipment.The DEP did not specify what type of protective eqipment. Further investigation will be necessary to determine the exact cause of the accident.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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3415 Neptune Ave street viewA baby girl died in an elevator accident in New York City on Thursday.  Her mother was also injured in the accident. She was expected to survive. Last  Thursday around 10:30 am, 21 year old Aber Al-Rabahi put her 6 month old daughter Areej Ali in her stroller and headed out of her apartment for a walk. Aber Al-Rabahi and her daughter called the elevator on the 23rd floor of of the Sea Rise, a residential building located at 3415 Neptune Avenue, in Coney Island, Brooklyn. As the elevator doors opened, the mother pushed the stroller inside and walked in without  realizing that the car was stuck 6 feet below. The mother landed on the top of her daughter on the roof of the elevator. The elevator fell down eight stories where the the mom and her daughter landed on the roof. A maintenance worker who heard the mother screaming ran to the rescue. The mother and the infant were both transported to the hospital. The infant was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. The mother is expected to survive.

Neighbors told the NY Daily News that both elevators in the building were constantly having problems. On Wednesday night tenants complained that the elevator was not functioning proprely. A mechanic from Centennial Elevator Co. had arrived an hour before the accident. He was working on the elevator when the accident happened. Centennial Elevator has two open OSHA investigations . One of them is related to one of their employees who lost an arm  while repairing an elevator in New York City last May (see previous blog).

According to the Gothamist, this is the second time that someone was killed in an elevator accident at the Sea Rise Complex. In 1991, Chandler  Johnson bumped into the door of the same elevator. The door opened and Chandler fell to his death down the shaft. Since the young man died, there were 147 elevator violations in the building.

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A pedestrian was fatally hit by a car in NYC on Friday night. 28 year old Francis Perez a Sheepshead Bay resident, stepped out of his house around 8:00 pm. He went to a nearby grocery store. He bought snacks for his son and his girlfriend. On his way back, he crossed Avenue V between Ford and Coyle Street. A car hit him at high speed. He flew in the air. A witness ran and gave him CPR. It wasn’t enough. The ambulance took him to the hospital where died there from his injuries. He left behind his girlfriend, Sandra Mcillwain, and their 8 year old son Francis JR. The police are still looking for the hit and run driver who killed him. Read more in the NY Daily News.

A Google aerial picture of the location of the accident shows that there are several stores and businesses on Avenue V between Coyle Street and Ford Street. It also shows that there are no pedestrian crossings despite commercial activities.

aerial picture of Avenue V

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accident sceneAn elderly pedestrian was fatally struck by a car in New York City last week. 89 year old Wai Lee was crossing Quentin Road near Coney Island Ave in Brooklyn, NYC when she was struck by a car. The driver, an 81 year old man was trying to park when he hit the victim. The NY Daily News reported that the man was trying to park when he put the car in drive by mistake. He then accelerated and hit the victim. The woman was transported to the hospital in critical condition. She later died there from her injuries.