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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helicopter about to drown5 people died in a helicopter accident in New York on Sunday. Only the pilot, 33 year old Richard Vance, survived. The passengers were two 26 year old friends from Dallas, Trevor Cadigan and Brian McDaniel, an Argentinean tourist, 29 year old Carla Vallejos Blanco and two employees of the helicopter company, 34 year old Daniel Thompson and 29 year old Tristan Hill.  They were riding aboard a door-off helicopter that used to be reserved for professional photography but has been recently marketed to tourists as well.  Because the doors are opened during the entire flight, passengers are secured in complicated harness systems. Unfortunately what made the harness safe when in the sky became a death device during the crash. As the helicopter quickly went down in the freezing water of the East River, none of the passengers were able to free themselves from the safety harness. The federal regulators announced yesterday that they would give urgent attention on the use of harnesses for aerial photography.

Before boarding the 5 passengers were required to look at a 10-minute safety video which briefly explains that there is a knife in a pocket of the harness that has to be used to cut a strap in the back of the harness in case of emergency . Tourist are often so excited that they don’t really pay attention to the video. Additionally when someone is upside down panicking in freezing water , everything becomes much more difficult. One would hvae to be trained like a Navy Seal to free himself in such difficult conditions.

The pilot told investigators that a bag or a strap of a bag may have touched a fuel control switch however experts doubt that this theory is plausible.  The pilot then realized he was experiencing engine trouble and decided to attempt an emergency landing. He could have chosen Central Park but he decided to land on the East River instead. The pilot executed what is known as an emergency auto rotation maneuver but the helicopter turned over and sank with the passengers stuck in their safety harnesses. The emergency inflatable pontoons didn’t function proprely. Read more in the NY Post.

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accident sceneAn 83-year-old man died after being hit by a pick-up truck in Manhattan. The pedestrian identified as Gilbert DiBernardo was killed in front of his apartment building in KipsBay.  The collision occurred Friday afternoon around 4:00 pm.  The man was in the crosswalk located on Second Avenue and was almost across the street when according to the NY Daily News the light turned green for the cars. He was struck by a Chevrolet Silverado driven by a 53 year old driver. The driver told the police that he braked but wasn’t able to stop his truck in time. The pedestrian was transported to the hospital with a massive head injury. He died the following day.

Another man died in a truck accident on Tuesday morning. 48 year old John P. Riofrio was driving his truck on I 287 near White Plains when he collided with another vehicle. He lost control of his truck and skidded off the road. The truck flipped over the guardrail and landed in a small stream. The driver died at the scene of the accident. Two passengers suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene of the accident. Read more in the Lohud

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accident sceneThe passenger of a car died after the driver crashed into the back of a truck in New York. The accident occurred early Tuesday morning on Frederick Douglas Blvd near the intersection of 129th Street in Harlem.  A 35 year old woman driving a Mercedes crashed into the back of a milk truck that was double parked. The impact was so strong that the car then crossed over the entire boulevard and crashed into a tree. Paramedics who arrived on the scene of the accident, rushed the two car occupants to the hospital. The passenger, identified as 33 year old Angel Campana died from his injury. The driver only suffered minor injuries to her face. She was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

Read more in The Patch

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location of the fatal accidentA man and a woman walking on Howard Street in New York City suffered critical injury after being hit on their heads by a falling piece of fire escape on Friday afternoon.

The man, identified as 58 year old Richard Marchhart from Long Island, succumbed to his injuries a day after his hospitalization. He left behind a wife and three children: a daughter going to high school and two sons going to college.

The injured woman is a 24 year old artist who was on her way to a studio at the New York Academy of Art on Franklin Street.

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accident sceneA pedestrian was fatally struck by a car in New York and the police are still looking for the driver. 61 year old Mercedes Dearmas was killed on Saturday night by a reckless driver who took off after he hit her.  That day Dearmas was celebrating her birthday. She had spent the day picking out a birthday outfit and chatting with neighbors. She spent the evening at her home located on Seventh Ave and 120th Street in Harlem with her long term boyfriend Rodolpho Rabaza. A little after midnight she told him she was going to the store. She walked down to 113th Street. As she tried to cross Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd a silver Sedan fatally struck her. She was rushed to the hospital but she couldn’t be saved.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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A pedestrian died from his injuries one day after being the victim of a hit and run accident in Manhattan early Tuesday. The police released a gruesome surveillance video  of the accident (see below). The footage shows the driver heading east E. 14th Street and slamming into the pedestrian while making a left turn onto Union Square East. The victim is 34 year old Adrian Blanc. An executive chef at Hill and Bay, Blanc was planning to get married in Venezuela next month. After the accident he was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, He passed away the following day. Yesterday the police announced that they found the car that hit him.  It is dark-colored Jeep Renegade that belonged to Zip Car. The police now have to find out who was behind the wheel at the time of the accident. There is an epidemic of  hit and run accidents in New York City. On average there is one person every week who dies in a hit and run accident in New York City. Yesterday the City Council passed a bill to crack down on these type of accidents. (see previous blog )

 

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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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