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 New York Wrongful Death

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Hudson Yard had many construction accidents2 construction workers died and another one was seriously injured in New York last Thursday at 2 different locations.  The first fatal accident occurred around 9:15 in the morning. 43 year old Juan Chonillo, a veteran construction worker and a father of 5 was working on the 29th floor of the 1 Seaport Residences construction site when he lost his balance. He fatally fell on the top of the scaffold bridge installed above the sidewalk. Just before the accident Chonillo was raising a concrete framework to lay concrete on the floor. According to his cousin Angel Munoz, at the time of the accident Chonillo was trying “to free the crane from the building after a cable got stuck somehow”. Chonillo who was trained and certified. He was wearing his harness but it wasn’t attached to anything. Chonillo had 10 years experience in the New York construction industry including several construction sites in the Financial district. The day before the accident the DOB issued a partial  stop work order for the unsafe operation of a crane. It appeared that the crane had been installed without a permit. It is not exactly clear so far if the death of the worker is directly related to the unsafe installation of the crane. Prior to the accident the construction site was hit with 28 complaints including several failures  to safeguard workers and property and a failure to provide a concrete safety manager at the time of an inspection. Chonillo was employed by the contractor Pizzarotti IBC. The construction site of the luxury all-glass residential building is located at 161 Maiden Lane.

Later on during the same day, two other construction workers fell 36 feet from a bucket lift at a construction site located at 401 9th Ave. The buildiing is part of the Hudson Yards development. One of the workers died and the other one was seriously injured. He was rushed to the hospital. According to NBC New York, the two workers were wearing a safety harness but were not attached to the bucket. It is the second time that a worker fell to his death at this location. Last June, Roger Vail was surveying the 16th floor of the building when he stood on a wooden platform that gave way (see previous blog).  The site was temporarily shut down in June and then re-opened after a safety plan was submitted to the city. Read more in the NY Daily News

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truck and bicycle accident locationA cyclist was fatally hit by a truck in New York  and another one was critically injured after being struck by a car yesterday in Brooklyn. The first accident occurred in  Crown Heights, Brooklyn, around 7:00 am. A  35 year old man was riding his bike on Utica Avenue when he got hit by a car at the intersection of Empire Boulevard. The cyclist suffered critical injury and was rushed to a nearby hospital. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident and wasn’t charged. (read more on PIX11).

Another bicycle accident occurred later on around 5:45 pm in Manhattan. A box truck  fatally hit a cyclist. The 38 year old truck driver was driving East on Walker Street. As he was making a right turn onto Broadway he hit 48 year old Yan Jindee who was riding her bike.  A witness working near the scene of the accident said he heard a loud bang and stepped out. He saw the victim on the ground. When the paramedics arrived the victim was unconscious. They performed CPR on her for a few minutes but they couldn’t save her. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident. According to the police, it is not clear yet if he is facing charges or not. There are no bike lanes  either on Walker or on Broadway. (read more in the NY Daily  News)

Picture of the location of the accident between the truck and the bicycle, courtesy of Google Map

 

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A New York City cab driver whose passenger fell out of his cab just continued on his way. Seconds later the passenger was hit by another yellow cab who also fled the scene of the accident and left her dead on the road. The hit and run accident occurred as the taxi was heading South on Lexington Ave between 69th and 68th  Streets yesterday morning a little after 5:00 am. For some unknown reason  the woman who was riding the taxi opened the rear door and fell out of it. Moment later another yellow cab also driving South on Lexington hit her and never stopped. The victim was rushed to the hospital but she couldn’t be saved. The police weren’t able to identify her but according to witnesses she was a homeless person often seen in the area.  The police were able to find the first cab driver. He was identified as 46 year old Azizur Mazumder and was arrested by the police two hours later near the accident scene. He was charged with reckless endangerment and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. The police are still looking for the second hit and run cab driver. 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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construction site where the elevator accident occurredA construction worker was found dead in an elevator on a New York construction site on Sunday morning.  The man was identified as 53-year-old Stephen Simpson, a native of Jamaica who previously served in the army and was currently working for Patriot Electric. The last time Simpson was seen alive was last Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm. Simpson had just finished his shift at a construction site at 555 Ten, a 56-story Manhattan luxury condominium building located at West 41st Street and 10th Avenue. As he was about to leave the site with his co-workers he told them that he forgot some personal effects and had to go back inside to retrieve them.  That’s the last time he was seen alive.

A security guard found his body at 7:00 am on Sunday. His head was trapped between the elevator floor and the elevator door frame of the 5th floor.  Investigators believe that Simpson used the elevator and that while he was riding it, the building power was shut off by the crew leaving the site. Simpson got stuck inside the elevator. It is unclear why Simpson didn’t use his cell phone to call for help. Instead, he forced the elevator doors open. However as he was climbing out of the elevator, the cabin moved upward and crushed him against the door frame. Investigators don’t know yet if he died immediately as his body was only found the following morning.  His body is now at the City medical examiner’s office where they will determine the time and cause of the death.

Stephen Simpson was married to Crystal Simpson and they were supposed to celebrate their son’s birthday. He was supposed to take his son and his wife  to the store to buy a bicycle for his son. Stephen and Crystal were married for 10 years. His wife told the News “He loved our son to death and he’d get him anything, he’d do anything for him”.

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accident sceneA man died in a crash in Manhattan last Friday night. The 29-year-old driver of a 2013 Nissan Altima was speeding on the West drive of Central Park when he lost control of his vehicle. He jumped the curve and after crossing a grassy area he crashed into an oak tree 300 feet from the roadway. He was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The speed limit inside Central Park is 25 mph but according to witnesses the car was probably going at a speed of 60 to 70 mph. The accident occurred on Friday night around 11:30 pm. According to Park Drive Regulations, cars are only allowed on the West Drive weekdays between 8:00 am and 10:00 am.  It is not clear why the man was driving on the West Drive of the Park at this time.

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An 88-year-old woman died and her husband were critically injured in a fire that erupted in their apartment in Harlem.  Firefighters rushed to a fire alert at their apartment located at 70 LaSalle Street near Amsterdam Avenue in Morningside Heights, NYC. They found the couple inside and rushed them to the hospital. Unfortunately the wife didn’t survive. The husband is still in critical condition. The couple’s apartment was located at the 15th floor of the building. The cause of the fire is still being investigated. Read more in the NY Daily News

In New York City, seniors have a higher risk of dying in home fires than the rest of the population. According to statistics from the New York City Fire Department , smoking is the leading cause of fire deaths in the homes of adults who are 65-years-old and older. Heating equipment is the second cause of  fatal fires at seniors apartments followed by cooking equipment and electrical.

Leading Causes of fire Death for elderly in NYC
Elderly people who are smoking have a much higher risk to be the victim of a residential fire than those who are not smoking. The FDNY recommends elderly people who are smoking:

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Dan Hanegby died in a NYC bicycle accicdentA bicyclists died after colliding with a bus in New York Monday morning. 36 year old Dan Hanegby, a financial executive at Credit Suisse was riding a Citi Bike on West 26th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. He was riding between the parked cars and a charter bus when the collision occurred. The man fell to the ground and was run over by the rear wheels of the bus.

The accident happened around 8:15 am on Monday. Hanegby was wearing a suit and was most probably on his way to work. The young man was transported to the hospital in critical condition. He died shortly after his arrival to the hospital.  The bus driver stayed at the scene of the accident. He wasn’t charged.

Hanegby grew up in Israel and served in the Israel Defense force. He was also an avid tennis player according to his social media profile.

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A woman died from burn injuries in her New York apartment. The 34-year-old woman was cooking in her kitchen yesterday afternoon around 3:00 pm when  her clothes caught fire.  According to the police she first ran around the apartment and then went to the bathroom where she died.  Her chest was covered with burns.  Cooking fires are unfortunately among the most common residential fires. The majority of kitchen fires occurred when the equipment is left unattended. It is not very common that person’s clothing catch fire while cooking. According to statistics from the National Fire Protection Association in less than 1% of the cooking fires, clothing items were the ones ignited first. However these types of fires are some of the deadliest and account for 18% of  deaths related to kitchen fires.

Fire statistics from NFPA

 

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Mattern-hudson-yards-3A construction worker died in New York on Monday. The accident happened at  Hudson Yards, a gigantic construction site in Manhattan. It is not the first time that a construction worker fell to his death on this site. Another deadly fall occurred at Hudson Yards in August 2015.

Around 6:40 pm on Monday evening, 62-year-old Roger Vail of Montgomery was doing a survey on the 16th floor of  the 400 W. 33rd St building when a wooden platform he was standing on gave way.  The man fell 10 stories and landed on the 6th floor. He died at the scene of the accident. Vail was hired by the company 50 States engineering which itself had been hired by Tishman Construction. Sadly, he was working on the installation of a fall prevention system.

Fortunately, in New York a construction worker is mot limited to Workers compensation. Pursuant To Section 240(1) of The New York State Labor law (the Scaffold Law) the next of kin of the worker are entitled to bring what is known as a Third Party action against Tishman and the owner of the construction site. At least they will be able to receive  compensation for this tragedy.

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