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 wrongful death NY

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2 years ago, 12 year old Andrew McMorris was killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. The driver was identified as Thomas Murphy. At the time of the accident, the young Andrew was walking with a group of scouts along the shoulder of Davide Terry Road in Manorville, Long Island, NY, when Thomas Murphy struck them with his car. Thomas died in the accident and several other boy scouts were injured.

Murphy had been drinking vodka for several hours at his golf club before the fatal car accident

Prior to the accident, Murphy had been boozing on vodka at his golf club. He got behind the wheel despite the advise of several of his friends not to take his car. After the accident he refused to take the breathalyzer test. However a blood test effectuated four hours  later indicated a alcohol level of .13, well above the limit of  .08 allowed  by law.

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Two men died after their car collided with a tractor trailer truck on the New York State Thruway. 27 year old Moshe Herzog and 26 year old David Z. Schneebalg, two EMTs,  were coming back home after spending Rosh Hashanah out of State. As they were driving in the middle lane, near Exit 14B at Airmont Road in Rockland County, Herzog who was driving the car, struck a tractor trailer in the right lane. The accident occurred early Monday morning around 2:00 am. The impact was so intense that both vehicles crossed the right shoulder and plunged into a ditch. The car burst in flames as one of the men was screaming for help. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. They were both members of the Haverstraw Ambulance Corps and the William P. Faist Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Their colleagues heard them screaming for help on the local EMS channel to get them out of their car. They ran to the rescue but it was too late. The truck driver survived. He was pinned in his truck and had to be pulled from the wreckage and transported to the hospital.

Both Herzog and Schneeblag were greatly appreciated for their work for the community. Even though they lived in Ramapo, they would frequently answer radio calls to serve Haverstraw if extra ambulances were needed.

Last year Herzog was honored by the Rockland County Legislature after he went on a 7-hour drive with a colleague to look for a rabbi who drowned in the sea off the Virginia Coast. Herzog was able to bring back the body of the rabbi to the family so they could get closure. He was just a very giving man, always ready to help. He will be dearly missed by the community.

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accident scene4 people died  and several others were injured in a car crash on a Long Island highway in an area nicknamed by locals “Blood Alley” for the many car accidents that previously occurred in this specific area of North Massapequa, NY . The accident caused by a wrong-way driver occurred early morning, around 5:00 am yesterday.

For reasons that are still unknown, 33-year-old Marvin Balcaseres from Farmingdale, NY, entered the Southern State Parkway the wrong way, most probably at exit 30 or exit 31 according to preliminary investigations. He traveled for about a minute before crashing into a SUV driven by 67 year old Ruben Sanchez who was heading to work with three other passengers identified as 34 -year-old Ivis Sanchez Cordova, 56-year-old Edith Magana and 44 year old Nadina Sanchez-Cordova.  The wrong way driver as well as all the occupants of the SUV, except Nadina Sanchez-Cordova, died at the scene of the crash. Nadina was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

Another car was also hit by the wrong way driver. Thankfully the driver wasn’t hurt. A motorcyclist who tried to avoid the area of the crash was hit by debris and sustained minor injuries.

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construction worker is a police officerHighway construction workers have one of of the highest rate of fatality among all categories of construction workers. Too often, they die in accidents caused by reckless drivers. In New York State,  from May to November, the New York State Police and the New York State Department of Transportation  are joining forces to crack down on reckless drivers in highway construction zone areas. Through “Operation Hard Hat”, any highway construction workers could actually be a State trooper checking on your driving behavior near construction zones and communicating with other state troopers down the road to stop and ticket drivers who do not respect construction workers safety.

State troopers are sometimes taking the role of a flagman or could be seated in a truck checking your speed  or checking if you are using a cellphone

This year so far, according to a recent announcement by governor Cuomo, 37 operations have been conducted on New York State highways resulting in 432 speeding tickets, 112 seat-belts tickets, 192 cell phone tickets, 68 move over tickets, 2 failure to obey flagger tickets, 10 failure to obey traffic control device tickets, 1 DWI violation, 2 unsafe lane change tickets and 403 tickets for other violations. A total of  1,222 tickets were issued so far. Last year, the same campaign from May to November resulted in a total of 1,048 tickets.

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location of the fatal tractor trailer truck accidentA mother and her two children lost their lives and several other family members suffered personal injury in a truck accident in Upstate NY.

The accident occurred last night around 8:30 pm on the New York State Thruway near Exit 19 for Ulster. A family from Pelham Bay in the Bronx, NYC, was returning home from a trip Upstate in two separate cars: a Honda and a Kia minivan. Both cars were stopped in traffic when a truck rear ended the Honda and swiped the rear end of the Kia. Zulika Salim, a 47 year old mother was sitting on the back seat of the Honda with her two children, 19 year old Justin Gayapersad and 14 year old Chelsea Gayapersad. They all died in the crash. The driver of the Honda, 24 year old Neta Singh and the front seat passenger, 18 year old Singh suffered minor injuries and were transported to a local hospital hospital.  3 other family members who were travelling in the Kia minivan that the truck sideswiped also suffered personal injury. One of them, a 48 year old passenger identified as Ramnarine Singh, was seriously injured and had to be airlifted to a medical center in Albany. Two other passengers, 27 year old Sangeeta Singh and 45 year old Saleema Salim suffered minor injuries and were transported to a local hospital. The driver of the Kia Van, 26 year old Maheshwarnauth Karan declined medical treatment at the scene of the accident.

The truck driver was identified as 61 year old Luc Leblanc from Quebec. According to the police, the truck driver was driving in the right lane when he encountered traffic stopped in front of him. He tried to avoid a collision but the distance between the truck and the stopped cars was too short for the truck to stop and he rear-ended the Honda. He was not injured in the accident and so far he has not been charged by the police.

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Reckless driving caused two people to die in separate car accidents in the New York area at the end of last week.

In the first accident, 39 year old Lisettte Quintanilla was driving home with her 8-year-old son when they were rear ended by a speeding drunk driver identified as 26-year-old Nicole Pollock. The accident occurred a little bit after midnight on Sunday morning. Quintanilla was driving on the Meadowbrook State Parkway. She was in the northbound lane just after exit M7 when Pollock rear ended her, causing the car to leave the road and crash into a tree. Quintanilla was rushed to the hospital where she died. Her 8-year-old son suffered a broken arm.

Pollok first tried to walk  away from the scene of the accident when the police was attending to the victims. She then resisted arrest, fought with the police and tried to slip out of her handcuffs. She was charged with vehicular manslaughter, DWI and assault. When she appeared in front of the judge yesterday she pleaded not guilty to the charges. The judge deemed her a flight risk and ordered her held in jail instead of a $200,000 bond.

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2 construction workers died after a trench collapsed in Long Island, NY. The two men were installing a septic tank for a private home located on Wolver Hollow Road in Brookville. They were 30 feet down at the bottom of the excavated area when one of the walls collapsed. Dirt and sand quickly covered the two men. First responders rushed to the rescue. They were able to recover one of the worker who was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. As they were digging with their hands and shovels to search for the second worker, another wall started to give way. Rescuers had to promptly exit and the wall had to be secured until the search for the other man could continue.  His body was finally recovered.  The workers whose identity has not been released were 45 and 57 year old. Read more on the ABC website .

https://www.newyorkpersonalinjuryattorneysblog.com/files/2020/01/1200px-Excavation_for_installation_of_light_towers_at_the_under_construction_Mid-Day_Storage_Yard_in_Queens._CQ033_9-8-2017_37101223191.jpgExcavation is one of the most dangerous activities in the construction industry. In 2018, OSHA launched a National Emphasis Program on Trenching and Excavation in order to reduce the number of injuries and deaths related to this activity. This emphasis program was launched after a recent surge of fatalities and serious injuries related to trenching and excavating. In the fourth quarter of 2019, a contractor who failed to adequately protect his employees during excavation work was slapped with a $161,771 OSHA fine. This fine was among the top 5 highest OSHA fines for the last quarter of 2019. Thankfully nobody was injured but OSHA inspectors found out that the contractor was violating several safety requirements related to excavating work such as not having a competent person conducting regular inspections of the excavation or letting workers continue to work  in an excavation that he knew was unsafe.

In 2017, an unlicensed New York contractor was criminally charged with manslaughter after a wall collapsed on his construction site killing 18 year old Fernando Vanegaz and injuring two of his colleagues (see previous blog)

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E-Cigarette-16 people have now died in the US and 450 others, including 64 of them in New York, have suffered lung injuries connected to vaping. In order to prevent more deaths and injuries related to vaping in New York State, Governor Cuomo just announced that he is planning to issue an emergency regulation to ban all vape flavors beside tobacco and menthol.  By banning fruity and sweet flavors such as bubble gum,  cotton candy or captain crunch that are usually appealing to teenage customers, the governor hopes that he can fight addiction to nicotine at an early age.  Tobacco and menthol flavors will be allowed as some studies have indicated that vaping might help smokers to quit cigarettes. The American Lung Association released a statement criticizing Cuomo’s decision to keep tobacco and menthol flavors saying that it will just make more people addicted to menthol flavor.  The governor said a ban of menthol might be considered in the future.

Investigation by the NY Department of Health

In addition to the ban, the NY Department of health will also investigate the 64 cases of lung injuries that occurred in New York State.  So far it has been difficult to identify exactly what caused some vape users to check in to the emergency room however according to the NY Department of Health many cases were linked to cannabis products which contained a high level of vitamin E acetate. Vitamin E acetate acts as a thickening agent for vaping products. As a result of this preliminary investigation, Cuomo also directed the Department of Health to subpoena companies that are manufacturing and selling what is called “thickening agents” which are often added to black market products.

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Location of the fatal accident caused by drunk driver Upstate NY3 people died and 6 were injured in a car accident in Upstate New York on Sunday morning. The victims were all members of the same family and were on their way to Niagara Falls. They were all riding in a Kia Sedona minivan when they were T-boned by a drunk driver who blew a stop sign in Sheldon, a small town in Upstate New York.

Among those who died were 4 year old Kiara Hernandez, her mother, 32 year old Mayelin Broti-Castro and her grandmother, 47 year old Ondina Castro de la Cruz. 6 other family members all from Perth Amboy, NJ, were also injured in the crash and taken to the hospital. The driver was identified as 20 year old Richard Sawicki. He was also injured in the accident, transported to the hospital and later on taken into custody where he is being held in lieu of $200,000 bond. He is facing vehicular homicide, DWI and reckless driving charges. He is due in Court on June 10.

Drunk Driver blew the stop sign

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harness safety equipment on scaffoldOn April 28th, Workers Memorial Day commemorated those who have suffered and died on the job. The NY construction industry accounts for a large share of the deaths and injuries suffered by workers. While fatal construction accidents have declined by 23% in New York City over the last 5 years they increased by 39% in New York State. The main reason behind this discrepancy is the difference in regulations. While stronger regulations and an increase of enforcement and control could help reduce the construction safety crisis in New York State, businesses are heavily lobbying against them.

In New York City things are not perfect either ( 3 construction workers died over a one week period last month) but long term statistics indicate that new and old policies are helping in making construction sites safer for workers. In 2019 the funding for the New York City Department of Buildings increased to 189 million compared to 107 million in 2015. The Department was able to hire 700 more employees and increase the number of work-site inspections.  The recent implementation of Local Law 196 that requires all construction workers to have a minimum amount of safety training before being able to work on a construction site in New York City will also be helpful in preventing dangerous injury and deaths.

Scaffold Safety Law

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