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 nyc

Published on:

A young woman was seriously injured in a car accident in New York City early morning Saturday.  As she went to help a  drunk driving girlfriend in a disabled car, she ended plunging 30 feet off an highway overpass after being caught in a chain reaction accident. The accident happened as follows.

Around 5:00 am Saturday morning, 22 year old Samantha Maloney who was drunk driving, crashed her car into a concrete median on a Whitestone Expressway  overpass near Grand Central Parkway in Flushing, Queens. The car was left disabled on the right shoulder. Instead of calling 911, Samantha called her girlfriend Victoria Garratt, also 22 years old, to the rescue. Victoria showed up a few minutes later at the scene of the accident.  At the same time Christopher Pierce, an off-duty FDNY EMT who was driving by, stopped his car and offered assistance to the two young women.  According to officials, Pierce parked his car “at an angle” in front of Samantha’s disabled car. As the three of them were waiting for “official” rescuers to arrive, a 38 year old off-duty NYPD lieutenant who was driving by tried to swerve to avoid them but instead he crashed into them. The impact was so strong that it sent Victoria flying over the highway overpass. She landed 30 feet on the road below.  The young woman almost died in the accident. According to the Gothamist she was so badly injured that she may end up paralyzed for the rest of her life. Pierce was also injured in the car accident. His arm was broken. Samantha was not injured but she was arrested for drunk driving. If investigators determine that she caused her girlfriend’s injuries she may be charged with reckless endangerment.  The 38 year old off-duty cop was tested for alcohol and had a 0.02 blood alcohol level which is well below the legal level of 0.08. Investigators will have to determine if he was driving at an appropriate speed.

 

 

Published on:

co_detectorA whole family was injured by a carbon monoxide gas leak in NYC early morning yesterday. Initially called for a fall accident, the firefighters arrived to a Flushing home in Queens and found the mother unconscious in the bathroom and the dad circling the apartment and talking in a way that didn’t make sense. One of the two kids was crying. An elderly man was also present in the house. The FDNY checked the house for carbon monoxide and found that the level of CO was at 755 parts per million, an extremely high and fatal level. The family was immediately transported to the hospital to be treated. They are now in stable condition.

The family had recently moved into the Queens house. They hadn’t installed CO detectors which are mandatory in New York City. According to the FDNY, the gas leak was coming from a defective heating unit that was venting CO in the house. The FDNY told the NY Daily News that “some work was recently done to the furnace and it wasn’t done to code”.

Carbon monoxide is a very dangerous gas because it has no smell and no color.  The first symptoms of CO poisoning are upset stomach, vomiting, headache, chest pain, dizziness and confusion. Further intoxication can make people pass out and ultimately die. People who are sleeping or who are drunk may die without even feeling the first symptoms.

Published on:

A 14 year old boy suffered personal injury in a NYC car crash last Saturday. 14 year old Luiz Cruz stole a car with another teenager and went for a joy ride in Coney Island. The police spotted the car speeding on Surf Ave near West 23rd Street and began to chase them. The police tried to pull them over before the driver lost control of the vehicle and hit a cement median and several parked cars. The driver fled the scene of the accident leaving his friend injured on the passenger seat. The police are still looking for the driver.

Read more in the NY daily News

Published on:

location of the hit and run accidentA 70 year old man was critically injured by a speeding hit an run driver yesterday afternoon in Brooklyn, NYC. The man who was riding his electric scooter  was in the crosswalk at the intersection of 25th Avenue and 85th Street when he was side-swiped by a speeding white SUV.  The impact knocked the elderly man off of his scooter.  Jennifer Fahmy, a teenaged pedestrian was standing nearby and witnessed the accident. She told NBC News that the driver almost hit her as well. As he was fleeing witnesses said he ran several red lights.

Jennifer immediately ran to the victim to assist him. She said that he was critically injured and was barely moving. She called 911.

The elderly man was rushed to the hospital in life threatening condition.

Published on:

The NYPD are actively looking for five negligent hit and run drivers who killed a bicyclist as well as two pedestrians and injured two other pedestrians.

The first accident took place Sunday morning in the Bronx around 1:30 am. 63 year old Jose Contreras was attempting to cross Webster Avenue at the intersection of 175th street when he was struck by a grey SUV. The driver never stopped. The victim who had just attended his sister’s birthday at a nearby catering hall was found by his son. He suffered severe trauma and was rushed to the hospital. He didn’t survive. The police are looking for a 2001-2006 gray suburban Cadillac Escalade. More information about the accident can be found on the ABC7NY website.

The second accident occurred less than an hour later in Queens, NYC.  A 22 year old woman was crossing Guy R. Brewer Boulevard at 118th Road in South Jamaica when she was hit by a silver minivan. The driver never stopped. The police found the young pedestrian unconscious on the ground. She was taken to the hospital where she was diagnosed with critical head trauma.

Published on:

After a construction worker died and four others suffered personal injury in a construction accident in Brooklyn, NYC, in 2011, the negligent “special instructor” who failed to perform crucial safety inspections on the site of the accident had his license revoked by the New York City Department of Buildings on Friday.

Back in 2011, Steven Schneider, an engineer, was hired as a special safety inspector on the construction site of a 14-unit condo building in Brighton Beach. As part of his duties Schneider was required by the code to perform structural tests such as testing of steel and masonry construction, structural stability and underpinning of adjacent buildings. Investigations show that Schneider never performed any of these tests and therefore didn’t notice that construction workers  had improperly poured concrete on unstable steel structures. This gross negligence led to the collapse of several floors of the building.  During the accident several workers were buried in the debris. Among them was Ivan Lende, a 54 year old worker from the Ukraine who died in the accident. Four of his colleagues were injured. Investigation results also show that Schneider  was unable to provide inspection documentation at many other NYC sites where he had been hired as a safety instructor. Not only did Schneider have his license revoked by the NYC DOB but his case was also referred to the state for “further disciplinary action”.

The DOB also announced Friday the revocation of the plumbing license of Andrew Trombetta. Andrew Trombetta is a master plumber who was involved in the East Village gas explosion that killed two people and injured many others in March 2015. Andrew Trobetta rented his licensed to the unaccredited plumber who installed the illegal hook up that led to the explosion. Earlier this month he was charged with falsifying inspection reports while four other people were charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

Published on:

A man suffered serious personal injury after a dozen bricks fell on his head in the Bronx and a tractor trailer flipped over on the George Washington Bridge yesterday night as a heavy storm ravaged the New York City Metro Area, New Jersey, Long Island, Southern Connecticut and the Lower Hudson Valley.

Strong winds with gusts over 50mph caused a tractor-trailer truck to flip over on the George Washington Bridge yesterday night a little before 10;00 pm. Thankfully nobody was injured in the truck accident. A man in the Bronx was less fortunate. As he was heading home bricks from a building fell on his head. He was seriously injured according to the NYPD. A witness said that after the accident the man could barely move and had blood all over his face. The police also investigated the possibility that the wind may have caused an entire building to collapse in the Bronx as well.

A sidewalk shed collapsed in Brooklyn.

Published on:

roy webbAfter sustaining minor injury in a car accident, a 27 year old man died during surgery at a New York Hospital.  This morning around 4:30 am Roy Webb, an employee for the catering hall Antuns in Quens Village, was driving a co-worker home. He was driving South on Laurelton Parkway when his lost control of his vehicle. He slammed into a guardrail near 130th Ave.  The car caught fire and the passenger died at the scene of the accident. The passenger suffered such bad burns that an autopsy will be required to formally identify her. The driver suffered a broken neck and was transported to Jamaica Hospital. His girlfriend and his family said that he went for a first surgery and that he woke up fine and was expected to survive. He then went for a second surgery and died during the procedure. According to the NY Daily News, the hospital told the family that his pulse dropped and that was all they could do. The family suspects that the hospital committed medical malpractice.

Published on:

A woman suffered critical personal injury after being hit by a car in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC early Saturday. The woman who was in her thirties was hailing a cab near Rodney Street and Metropolitan Avenue when she was hit by silver BMW. The driver sped off in the night leaving the woman agonizing in the street. The woman was transported to the hospital. She suffered serious head trauma and was listed in critical condition. The police are still looking for the driver and have released the below surveillance image of the car.

hit and run car

Read more in the Gothamist

 

Published on:

269,140 people were injured in NYC auto accidents last year compared to 256,005 in 2014. This represents an increase of almost 5% in one year. The number of crash injuries first decreased between 2013 and 2014 before significantly increasing in 2015.  By categories motorist injuries and cyclist injuries added to the increase while pedestrian injuries and passengers injuries both declined.

While injuries were on the rise, the yearly number of deaths related to motor vehicle accidents gradually declined. From 286 in 2013, it went down more than 12 % to 250 in 2014  and more than 6% to 235 in 2015. By categories, motorists deaths, pedestrians deaths and bicyclists deaths all declined while passengers deaths increased.

Click on graphs to increase to increase size