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 Queens personal injury

Published on:

A welder died and another construction worker was seriously injured after a building collapsed on a NYC construction site yesterday.

50 year old David Johnson, a father of two daughters going to college, was working on the demolition of a building located at 147-05 94th Ave in Jamaica, Queens, when the second floor where he was standing collapsed.  Johnson and another unidentified worker were buried in the debris. When firefighters arrived, the condition were so bad that they had to use ladder trucks to free the victims. Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Hi co-worker was transported to the hospital with critical injury.

Johnson was an unionized welder with Local 79.  He took the job at the non unionized  demolition site run by the general contractor Cole Partners Inc because it was hard for him to find work. Before the accident, Leslie White, another member of Local 79 who worked as a safety supervisor on another site told him the day before “that thing is going to collapse”. Johnson told her not to worry.

Published on:

5 people were injured in a New York MTA bush crash. The bus was riding down 58th street and crossing Woodside Avenue in Queens, NYC, when  a speeding Honda that was driving in the same direction blew a red light behind the bus and crashed into the side of the bus.  The impact caused the MTA bus to jump the curb and crash into the storefront of Bagel Plus deli.

At the time of the accident, the bagel store was still closed but two employees were already working inside. The manager, 42 year old Polo Perez, was setting up the coffee station  when the bus crashed into the window. He rushed to turn off the grill and the oven and ran into the back of the store where another man was working. Neither of them were injured in the accident but the storefront was completely destroyed.

It was a miracle that so few people were injured in the bus crash

Published on:

accident scene4  people were injured in an accident caused by a New York City Sanitation truck in Queens on Saturday night. The truck was driving West on the Belt Parkway near Merrick Boulevard when it overturned. During the crash, the compactor of the truck detached and landed on  the top of two other cars, destroying them. 4 people were injured including the driver of the truck who was badly bleeding. According to witnesses he was covered in blood. Another victim was seriously injured and 2 others only suffered minor injuries. All four of them were transported to the hospital to be treated. The police are still investigating the accident.

 

Published on:

scene of the fatal hit and run accidentA pedestrian died from her injuries after being struck by a taxi driver who tried to flee the scene of the accident but was shortly after arrested by the police. 26 year old Sherena Hundalani was walking on the sidewalk of Queens Boulevard near 63rd Road next to a gas station when she was struck by a green taxi. It was not exactly clear if the driver pulled in the station to get some gas or to cut across. Witnesses saw him driving through the station and turning left onto the Queens Boulevard service road where he slammed into Sherena.

Good Samaritan stopped the reckless driver

A young man going by the name of Bolat told the News that he was at the scene of  the accident with his wife and kid and that he witnessed the taxi driver behaving erratically. The taxi almost drove into him and his family before abruptly turning on the service road slamming into Sherena. Then the driver tried to leave the scene of the accident and drove the wrong way in the middle lane of the road before pulling over. After he pulled over Bolat opened the front door of the taxi and took out the key. Then the police arrived and brought  the driver to the station. He was released later on at night. So far the man hasn’t charged and the police indicated that they were still investigating the accident.

Published on:

location of the deadly car accidentA man died and a woman was injured in a car crash in New York City last Friday night. According to the NY Daily News the driver of a white 2001 Nissan Sentra was driving East on Rockaway Boulevard around 10:30 pm. He was planning to make a left turn onto Guy R Brewer Boulevard. When he arrived at the intersection the left turn light was red and a tow truck operated by Onpoint Collision and Towing Services was in front of him. The tow truck driver told the News that the reckless driver went around his truck on the right and then proceeded to turn left to get onto Guy R Brewer Boulevard. In order to do so he had to cross several lanes of traffic. He was T-boned by a white BMW that slammed in the car’s door. The tow truck driver confirmed that the woman who was driving the BMW had the green light. He saw the entire accident including when the EMS arrived and pulled the driver out of his car. The emergency team tried to resuscitate him but according to the tow truck driver, the man seemed dead. He was transported to the hospital where his death was confirmed. The BMW driver was also taken to the hospital to be treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Read more in the NY Daily News

Picture: Courtesy of Google Map

Published on:

LightningTwo men suffered personal injury in New York City after they got hit by a lightning strike. The two men were playing soccer in Flushing Meadows Park, near the Queens Zoo on Tuesday night.  The storm broke around 7:30 pm as the 30 and 42 year old men were playing a six-on-six pick-up soccer game.

Nearby the NYPD was holding an event at the park called “National Night Out” and as the storm arrived police were telling people attending the event to clear the area. Andrew Graneros an employee with Everything Entertainment which provided inflatable rides and tents for the event was taking down the rides with his coworker when lightning hit the soccer field. He heard the thunder and immediately looked at the field. The goalie and another player next to him were laying on the ground  He ran to the NYPD event to ask for help. There were a bunch of cops and ambulances around so the response was extremely fast.

The two victims were rushed to the hospital. So far,both victims survived. However the youngest one suffered life threatening injuries and he is still fighting to stay alive.

Published on:

Harleen Maggo died in a NYC fire accidentA Queens Village family who was celebrating an upcoming wedding was caught in a massive fire that quickly ravaged their house killing 3 of them and injuring many others. The house located on 211th Street and 93rd Road didn’t seem to have working smoke detectors. 32 year old Harleen Maggo (see picture), a mother of two and her parents Ragvir Kaur-Kainth, 82, and Pyara Kainth, 87  all died in the fire that erupted a little bit before midnight on Saturday night. Harleen’s two children, were also trapped in the fire but were able to be rescued by the firefighters. The 8 year old girl was in critical condition while the 6 year old boy was stable. Seven other people who were also trapped in the fire were transported to the hospital with serious injuries.  Harleen Maggo had been able to escape but she decided to go back in the house on fire to try to save her parents. She never made it back outside. The house was full of wedding guests partying when the fire started. Investigators are still trying to figure out the cause of the fire. Read more in the NY Daily News  Picture source: Facebook

No working smoke alarm either in another NYC fire that erupted 6 hours later

Published on:

An 8 year old girl suffered head injury after being hit by debris falling off a NYC construction site.

Last Friday morning, Tatiana Devia was in the courtyard of her family’s apartment building on 35th Avenue near 83rd Street in Jackson Heights, Queens, when a wooden plank fell on her head. She was rushed to the hospital to be treated for a mild concussion and a large wound to her head. 3 staples were needed to close the wound. The wood fell from a construction site located at the fourth floor of the building were workers where renovating an apartment. Workers were moving planks from the construction site to the ground by letting them down with a rope from the fire escape. One of the wood pieces slipped from the rope and hit the girl. Construction workers were working without having proprely safeguard the area. The man who was lowering the board ran away and was nowhere to be found.

Investigators from the Department of Buildings issued a full stop work order and the contractor was hit with 3 violations including failure to safeguard a construction site. The family and other witnesses who live in the building said that the little girl could have been killed. Her brother was so traumatized that he was scared to return home.

Published on:

https://www.newyorkpersonalinjuryattorneysblog.com/files/2018/02/New_York_City_Housing_Authority_logo.svg_.pngLead based paint exposure can cause serious personal injury, especially to young children. Lead poisoning builds in the body over months, sometimes over years.  A small quantity of lead such as paint on the wall or dust is enough to create severe mental and physical impairments in children and a larger quantity can lead to death. Lead paint was widely used to paint residential interiors in the past but  after its toxicity was discovered it wasn’t used anymore. Lead paint can still be found on the walls of old buildings that haven’t been renovated for a long time. Some of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings for example still have lead paint. NYCHA was supposed to inspect its buildings and address issues but recently the Department of Investigation found out that NYCHA not only failed to inspect buildings for lead paint but also falsified documents to pretend inspections occurred (see previous blog).

NEGATIVE HEALTH EFFECT FROM MOLD INVESTIGATED TOO

On Monday the New York State Department of Health announced that it was opening an investigation over the health impact of NYCHA’s failures to tenants in Southern Queens. The Health Department will not only study the consequences of lead paint exposures but also health problems related to mold. Mold is affecting thousands of  NYCHA apartments. It can cause asthma and other serious respiratory diseases. Additionally the Health Department will also study the health impact of the recent heat and hot water outages. Since October including during the coldest days, more that 320,000 NYCHA tenants (80%)  have been experiencing heat or hot water outages. These outages are especially unhealthy for younger or older tenants.

Published on:

accident sceneA woman was injured in a truck accident in NYC after the driver of the truck, naked and high on meth, crashed into her car. 38 year old Stephen Walker had spent Saturday night inside his box truck on a parking lot doing meth and having sex with his lover. In the morning the pair was caught naked by a jealous boyfriend. The couple sped away with the box truck to escape the angry boyfriend. Both men in the box truck were naked from the waist down. As they were escaping, the driver still high on meth rear-ended a car on Old Rockaway Blvd. and North Boundary Lane in Springfield Gardens, Queens. The truck careened off the road and crashed through a fence.

Walker who was driving the truck first ran away and hid from the first respondents in an empty horse trailer at a nearby animal shelter. However a few minutes later, consumed by remorse, he returned half naked to the scene of the accident to let the responding officer know that his lover was stuck in the truck. First responders were able to use “jaws of life” to cut though the truck door and liberate the half naked lover. The two men as well as the woman who was driving the car were transported to the hospital. The woman suffered neck and back injuries.

The truck driver was charged with with reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, drug possession, driving under the influence of drugs and obstructing government administration.