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

Published on:

A 71 year old cyclist was fatally struck by a postal truck at the intersection of 86th Street and Central Park West in Manhattan, NYC.

Last Tuesday around 5:40 pm, Jeffrey Williamson, an avid cyclist, was commuting back from his work downtown to his house in the Upper West Side when a postal truck making a right turn from Central Park West onto the 86th Street traverse hit him. The cyclist, a marketing professional who was close to retirement, was in the bike lane when the truck struck him.

He was rushed to the hospital where he died a few hours later from body trauma. He leaves behind his wife, 68 year old Chris Brimer and two children.

Published on:

location of the fatal pedestrian and e-bike collisionA pedestrian died from his injuries after being struck by an e-bike in NYC. The accident took place on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. 71 year old Hing Chung, the manager of the Dim Sum restaurant Jing Fong, stepped on the bike lane between two cars and was hit by a 39 year old cyclist travelling North on the bike lane. The accident occurred a few steps away from his restaurant. The e-bike rider stayed at the scene of the accident and was not charged.

Hing Chung was hospitalized and later on died from his injuries at the hospital. The restaurant manager immigrated from Hong Kong more than 30 years ago and was a friendly and funny man who was loved by his clients and employees. (read more in the Gothamist)

3 fatal collisions between pedestrians and e-bikes in NYC since 2014

Published on:

location of the van accidentSeven pedestrians including two children were injured in a wild car accident in Manhattan last week. The accident took place on the Upper East Side, on March 5th, a little before 9:00 am. The 66 year old driver of a van lost control of his vehicle, striking a car on Second Avenue between 50th and 51st Street. The car went flying into the dining shed of Crave Fishbar, totally destroying it, while the van struck a food stand, a scaffolding structure and a traffic light post. Because it was early morning, the dining shed was empty however two young pedestrians, one 5 year old and one 7 year old, were injured by flying debris from the dining shack. The owner of the fruit stand as well 3 other pedestrians were also injured when the van crashed. The occupants of the car were the most seriously injured however none of the injuries were life threatening.

The driver of the van might have suffered a medical episode according to some media or might have been driving while intoxicated according to other media. The investigation is still ongoing. He was identified as 66 year old Noman Ahmed, a delivery driver for the Long Island based company Mega Elevator Parts. According to the Gothamist, the driver has been working with  the company for 20 years and never had any other incident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W9jMmQxeOI

Published on:

fall fatalities in NYC 2020A hard hat died after he fell from the 16th floor at a construction site in Manhattan. The 52 year old worker was a unionized sheet metal worker who had been with Local 28 for 24 years. He was doing doing some work at the NYU Ambulatory Care Center located on 41st Street between Third and Second Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The Medical Center is open to patients but some construction is still going on inside and outside. The DOB told the media that the fall was not related to the construction going on inside the building. The worker arrived at the Medical Center at 6:30 am last Friday morning and went to the back of the building and took a hoist elevator that runs at the exterior of the building. Two hours later the man fell and was found lying dead on the ground at the back of the building. The DOT is still investigating the exact cause of the accident.

Eric Meslin, Sheet Metal Workers Local 28 president and business manager  told the News “I worked with him personally back when we had tools on. He was a good guy to be around,” Meslin said. “He had a big personality. It’s hitting our members hard.”

Falls are the number one cause of construction workers fatalities. Last year among the 8 construction workers fatalities reported by the New York City Department of Buildings, 4 of them were falls. (see previous blog)

Published on:

accident sceneA pedestrian was fatally hit by a dump truck last week in Times Square, Midtown Manhattan. The accident occurred Saturday afternoon around 3:00 pm. The pedestrian, a 64 year old woman whose name was not released, was crossing 7th Avenue at the intersection of 45th Street when she was struck by a large dump truck. The driver did not stop immediately and the pedestrian got stuck under the vehicle and dragged by the truck while horrified witnesses started to scream at the driver who then stopped and remained at the scene of the accident.

A street vendor with a stand right at the corner of the intersection told the NY Daily News that there was a lot of blood and when EMS removed the victim from under the truck she was not moving. However she was still alive and rushed to the hospital with critical injuries including severe leg trauma. She later died from her injuries at the hospital.

Truck side guards might have prevented the victim to get dragged under the truck

Published on:

food-emporium-Hells-KitchenA worker died in an elevator accident at a Manhattan grocery store last week. 49 year old Maria Sanchez, a mother of four children who worked two jobs to support her family and her mom in Mexico City was killed by an elevator that was illegally installed in the building of the Food Emporium in Hell’s Kitchen.

Last Tuesday afternoon, Sanchez was in the basement of the Food Emporium supermarket located at 452 W. 43rd Street in Hell’s Kitchen. She was loading a small dumbwaiter elevator with merchandise when suddenly the elevator moved up and crushed her head. Sanchez suffered major head trauma and died at the scene of the accident.

The elevator was illegally installed and had recently been repaired after previous malfunctions

Published on:

location of the collision between the truck and the bicyclistA bicyclist died after being struck by a truck in Harlem, New York on Friday morning around 8:30 am

The driver of the truck was driving illegally on the bus-only lane on First Avenue near 118th Street when he  struck the 41 year old bicyclist. The police also mentioned that the bicyclist was riding the wrong way.  The truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident and was asked to submit himself to the breathalyzer which came out negative. He was not charged despite recklessly travelling on the bus lane while he was supposed to drive on the 3 other traffic lanes of First Ave.

While looking at past traffic violations, the truck has a a history of recklessness with 159 violations since 2014 including red lights and speeding.  The cyclist seemed to have been crushed between the truck and a car that was illegally parked in front of a “No Standing Anytime” sign. The victim is the 24th bicyclists to die in a traffic accident this year. He is also was one of two victims who died in a traffic accident in East Harlem this week-end. Read more in the Gothamist

Published on:

location of the e-bike crash with Rolls RoyceA Man who was seriously injured in a e-bike accident near the Queens-Midtown tunnel on Saturday November 28th died from his injuries, the NYPD announced on Tuesday. 28 year old Jakir Hossain from the Bronx was riding an electrical bike on East 38th Street, Saturday November 28th around 8:45 pm when he was struck by the driver of a Rolls Royce convertible travelling North on Tunnel Exit Street. The cyclist was ejected from his bike and suffered multiple trauma to his head and his body. He was transported to the hospital where he died from his injuries after more than a week of pain and suffering.

The 30 year old driver of the Rolls Royce was not charged. The investigation is still ongoing. The report mentions that the driver had the green light . Tunnel Exit Street is notoriously dangerous. Drivers are speeding and visibility is bad. Last year 17 crashes were reported on this short street segment.

The death of Jakir Hossain once again demonstrates that while more and more people are riding bicycles in  New York City, many streets of the city are still extremely dangerous to ride and more should be done to protect cyclists. Read more in Street Blog

Published on:

location of the e-bike colision with SUVA driver fatally struck an e-bike rider in New York and then fled the scene of the accident. 42 year old Ernesto Guzman of East Harlem was delivering a pizza on his e-bike yesterday around 4:30 pm when a black Chevrolet Tahoe SUV with TLC plates crashed into him. The driver then left, leaving the man dying on the street. The accident occurred in East Harlem at the intersection of E. 97th Street and Second Avenue. The Police found the vehicle abandoned by the driver on E. 96th Street. They are still looking for the runaway driver. The victim had delivery bags with him and a witness at a nearby Deli told the NY Daily News that they flew 3 feet away during the collision.  The witness also mentioned that the victim was badly injured with a lot of blood coming out of his head.

When EMS and the police arrived, they transported the victim to a hospital emergency room which was just yards away from the scene of the accident but it was too late. Ernesto Guzman was so badly injured that he passed away.

The police are still investigating the accident. According to preliminary investigation, the e-bike rider was driving south on Second Ave when he was hit by the SUV driving  West on 97th Street.

Published on:

accident sceneFatal car accidents related to speed are on the rise in New York City and many of them are caused by young inexperienced drivers behind the wheel.

While New Yorkers witnessed or heard the noise of drag racing all over the city during the coronavirus lock-down that started at the end of March, the city is now about to enter phase 4 of reopening but many drivers seem not to have realized that they are not alone on the road anymore.

Two days ago a 21 year old driver was speeding on the southbound lanes of the Henry Hudson Parkway when he lost control of his Honda, slammed into the median, overturned and landed on the northbound side, hitting another driver in a Toyota