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 personal injury NY

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MartellaSpeed was a factor in a NY Car accident that left 6 people injured and 5 dead. 29 year old Scott Martella, a former aid to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo,  was among the victims who were killed in the accident. Yesterday morning around 9:30 a.m. Scott was driving his Honda in the westbound lane of the Long Island Expressway near Exit 68 in Manorville, NY. Next to him in the passenger seat was his fiancee, 29 year old Shelbi Thurau. As they were driving an eastbound Subaru went airborne and landed in the westbound lane. The Subaru struck the Honda and a BMW. The Subaru was driven by 26 year old Carmelo Pinales. His sister Patricia Pinales was in the passenger seat and his son was in the back. Scott Martella, Carmelo Pinales and Patricia Pinales all died at the scene of the accident. Pinales 10 year old son died later on from his injuries at the hospital. Scott’s fiancee survived. The BMW was driven by 73 year old Marvin Tenzer. He was with his wife Sandra and another couple: Helen and Isidore Adelson. Mr Adleson died from his injuries yesterday night and the rest of the BMW occupants sustained injuries. Witnesses who saw the Subaru passing them before the accident said the car “was flying”.

Read more in the NY Times  Picture:Linkedin

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Tappan_Zee_Bridge_tower_construction_NY14 people were injured in a crane accident in New York. A giant crane collapsed  on Tuesday around noon on the Tappan Zee bridge landing on the 8 lanes of the highway (see video). It is a miracle that no vehicle were struck by the crane and nobody was killed in the accident said New York Governor Cuomo in a press conference in Tarrytown, NY.  Only 3 motorists trying to avoid the falling crane and a construction worker were treated for minor injuries. Witnesses said they saw the crane operating normally and all of sudden falling sideways on the highway blocking the traffic in both ways for the whole afternoon.

28 cranes like this one are operating on the Tappan Zee Bridge construction site which is the largest infrastructure project in the US. The crane was a new MLC 300 manufactured by Manitowoc Cranes with a 256 feet long boom. At the time of the accident, construction workers were using a vibratory hammer to install pilings, a routine task that is not considered dangerous or challenging.

Officials are investigating the cause of the collapse. They said the wind wasn’t an issue. The operator of the crane stayed at the scene and was tested for drugs and alcohol.

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imageA drunk off duty cop killed a pedestrian and injured 3 others in Brooklyn, NYC, Sunday around 3:00 am.  21 year old Andrew Esquivel (photo ), a MIT student interning in New York for the summer , was walking home when he was hit by an out of control car that jumped the curb. Another man and two other women were seriously injured in the accident. The driver of the car was off duty NYPD Officer Nicholas Batka who was allegedly drunk but refused a breathalyzer test. He was charged with vehicular manslaughter, three counts of assault, driving while intoxicated, driving with impaired ability and driving on a sidewalk. Read more in the NY Daily News 

 

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Four people died and two were injured in a car accident in Long Island, NY on Yaphank Middle Island Road near Rustic Road last night. For some unknown reason the driver of a pick up truck veered in to the opposite lane of traffic and hit a car that was coming in the opposite direction. There were four adults and a baby in the car. The driver of the pickup truck as well as two men and a woman who were in the other car died in the accident. The baby and another woman sustained injuries and were taken to the  hospital to be treated.

Read more in the NY Daily News 

 

 

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A cab driver died and a woman were injured in a car crash in Long Island, NY, early Saturday morning. 23 year old Duke Obule was drunk and speeding behind the wheel of a luxury sports car when he lost control of the vehicle at the intersection of Hempstead Turnpike and Lincoln Road in Franklin Square. The impact was so strong that the taxi careened all the way across Hempstead Turnpike and crashed into a utility pole. The cab driver was killed in the accident.  The drunk driver fled the scene of the accident by foot leaving behind an injured 20 year old woman who was in the car with him at the time of the accident. She suffered a broken ankle and was taken to the hospital. Obule  was caught by the police an hour later on Hempstead Turnpike,  a mile away from the accident. Not only was Obule  drunk driving and speeding but he also had no license. He faces 10 charges including manslaughter and DWI. According to residents Hempstead Turnpike has a history of speeding and accidents.

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Sunny MaritimeAt least 20 passengers suffered personal injury in a bus accident  in Upstate NY yesterday. The bus was operated by W&D Tour a Brooklyn based bus operator. It was transporting SUNY Maritime students from the Bronx, NYC. They were heading back to New York City after attending a conference  at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. Slippery road conditions due to earlier snow may have been a factor in the accident. The bus accident happened in the morning around 10:45 am on Route 28N  in Minerav, in the Adirondack Mountains, NY. The bus fell off the side of the road and landed upside down in the woods. 20 people suffered non life threatening injuries. Read more in the NY Daily News

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train accident fireAlmost a year ago 6 people died and 15 others were injured (including seven severely)  in a Metro-North train accident  between the Valhalla and Mount Pleasant stations in New York.  The Valhalla railroad accident that happened on the evening of February 3rd 2015 was the deadliest in Metro-North history.

Ellen Brody, a mother of three was driving her SUV through the Commerce Street rail crossing in Valhalla. The vehicle got stuck inside the crossing gate when it descended. The approaching Metro-North train engineer spotted her too late and crashed into her vehicle. She was killed in the accident along with 5 other train passengers who were sitting in the lead car of the train. An alleged defective third rail became dislodged and entered the first car of the train. Investigators believe the fuel from the car combined with the sparks of the dislodged third rail ignited the fire that ravaged car 4333 (see picture from the National Transportation Safety Board Investigation on the left).

Our partner, NY train accident attorney Howard Hershenhorn is representing the wife of one of the victims. Last week he filed a negligence lawsuit against Metro-North and its engineer Steven Smalls Jr. as well as the town of Mount Pleasant. The lawsuit lists multiple reasons for the defendants alleged negligence. Among them:

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Two people who could have died in a school bus accident only suffered minor personal injury thanks to a courageous NYPD officer. Christopher Canale, a NYPD transit cop on the Far Rockaway train line was driving on the Long Island Expressway last Thursday with his family when a mini school bus crashed into a box truck and started to burn just in front of his car. Canale stopped on the side of the road and ran to the bus thinking it was full of children. He quickly realized that only two people were on on board: the bus driver and an aid stuck in the back.  The NYPD cop was first  able to get the aid out of the bus safely.  Then as the flames were threatening to burn the feet of the bus driver who was stuck between his seat and the steering wheel he was able to pull him out to safety just before the bus burst into fire. Read more in the NY Daily News

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The picture taken by Canale after he rescued the two people

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4 women are dead and 4 others are still in the hospital after being injured in a collision during which a pick up truck collided with their limo. The 8 friends were having a bachelorette party and had hired a limo to visit distilleries and vineyards from the North Folk Region. The limo was leaving Vineyard 48 winery in Cutchogue, Long Island, NY and was making a U turn when a pick up truck crashed into it. The collision was so violent that that the limo was almost sliced in half. Brittney Schulman, 23, and Lauren Baruch, 24, both of Smithtown; Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park, and Amy Grabina, 23, of Commack all died in the accident. Joelle Dimonte, 25, of Elwood, L.I.; Melissa Angela Crai, 23, of Scarsdale, Westchester County; Alicia Arundel, 24, of Setauket, L.I., and Olga Lipets, 24, of Brooklyn, were all treated at local hospitals and survived. Both drivers were also injured and hospitalized. Steve Romeo, the driver of the pick up truck was charged with misdemeanor DWI. He pleaded not guilty. Read more in the NY Daily News