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 NYC

Published on:

accident sceneA  NYC pedestrian was fatally struck by a dump truck. A bicyclist died after being clipped by a box truck. A pedestrian lost his life after being hit by a car. All 3 accidents occurred in Brooklyn Monday afternoon.

85 year old Rafael Nieves was walking back home from a trip to the supermarket around 1pm in Williamsburg. As he was crossing Grand Street near Lorimer a dump truck ran over him. The driver didn’t even stop. The police located him later on. According to their investigation the truck driver didn’t know he hit someone. Nieves, a Puerto Rican military veteran leaves behind him two children and five grand children.

A few hours later, around 4:45 pm, a 70 year old bicyclist died after being hit by a delivery truck. Iosif Plazinsky was riding his bike on Avenue X near Coney Island Ave. The bicyclist was hit twice by the truck. After the first collision he lost balance and fell. Then the truck veered to the right and struck him again. Plazinsky was rushed to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved. The truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident. Plazinsky was a retired construction worker from Odessa. He lived in Brighton Beach with his family. He had 3 grand children and one about to be born.

Published on:

A one year old boy died and six people were injured including two severely in a NYC fire accident yesterday morning morning. The fire started in a three bedroom apartment located on the 13th floor of a building located on Mother Gaston Blvd in Brooklyn NYC. Seven people were living in the apartment. Firemen rescued the bay boy but he died an hour later at the hospital. two other people are still fighting for their life and 4 others were injured but expected to survive. They were all transported to a nearby hospital. Read more in Brownsville Patch

Another fire broke at a new wing of the NYU Langone Hospital in Midtown Manhattan. Nobody was injured as the building was still under construction. Black smoke and massive flames caused by tar burning erupted from the rooftop. The smoke invaded the entire Kips Bay neighborhood. Read more in the NY Daily News

Yesterday 8 people including two firefighters were injured in a fire that erupted in a Bronx two-story houses (see NY Daily News). As the weather is getting colder in the City the number of residential fires has been increasing these last days.

Published on:

Domino_Sugar_refineryA construction worker fell to his death in New York City on Friday morning around 8:00 am. 59 year old Wilfredo Enrique was working on the facade of  a new residential development when he fell to his death.  Enrique was employed by Two Trees Management and was working on the construction site located on the old site of the Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn. After the accident the site was closed and investigators were working on determining the exact cause of the fatal accident.

According to the most recent complaints reported on the NYC Department of Building website, the scaffold didn’t meet the building safety code standard. The worker fell approximately 4 floors from the master climbingwork platform, after Two Trees Management failed to safeguard the platform.  Since the construction started 41 complaints have been filled. The Department of Building issued a total of 27 violations, most of them immediately hazardous. 3 of them were still open at the time of the accident. Among the open violation were the use of rigging equipment by a non licensed rigger and the failure to safeguard all persons and property affected by the construction operations.

The accident occurred just a few weeks after the death of two other NYC construction workers in Queens (see previous blog). According to Union representatives, Enrique is the 29th construction worker who died over the last two years in New York City. The boom in the construction sector in New York has led to an increase in construction jobs in the city. In 2015, the New York Building Congress recorded 138,200 construction jobs, the highest in 40 years.

Published on:

constructionLast September we wrote a blog about a third of NYC construction accident deaths not being counted or investigated by the city. After Crain’s reported this continuing problem, Mayor de Blasio acted in a very nonchalant manner and brushed off the issue. Unions workers were outraged by his attitude.

Among the multiple deaths that the city didn’t count or investigate last year was the death of Alton Louis, a construction worker employed by CRV Precast. Alton Louis collapsed and died during the summer of 2015 after the subcontractor failed to implement a heat stress program and had him working a full shift during a day when the temperature reached 105 degrees. CRV precast was cited by OSHA for the death of the construction worker, but neither the NYC Department of Buildings nor the NYC Department of Investigation investigated the company. CPR was fined $6,300 by OSHA for the death of Alton Louis while the City looked the other way.

Two weeks ago, two construction workers died in Queens (see previous blog). Crain’s reported that one of these construction workers was employed by CVR Precast. The other hard hat who died worked for a firm subcontracted by CVR Precast.

Published on:

matthew vo nohlen A man who fatally struck a bicyclist in NYC last July was arrested and charged with manslaughter. Last July Matthew Von Olen was riding his bike on Grand Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, when he was intentionally struck by a car.  According to acting DA Eric Gonzales, the driver recklessly swerved into the bike lane and struck the bicyclist. He hit him from behind knocking him off his bike. He then drove over him and dragged him 10 to 20 feet as he was speeding away (see previous blog). The man was identified as 56 year old Juan Maldonado from South Williamsburg. He was arrested yesterday morning. He was brought to Brooklyn Supreme Court and indicted on eight counts including leaving the scene of an accident, criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter. He may be sentenced to up to 15 years in jail if convicted. 35 year old Matthew Von Holen was the founder of BikeStock and and an avid cyclist.

Read more in the Gothamist Picture source: Facebook

Published on:

accident sceneA 17 year old driver accidentally killed his grandmother in a car accident in New York City on Sunday.  The young man who lives in Queens with his parents and grandparents was about to take the family to church when the accident occurred.  As he backed up in the narrow driveway of their home, Jadesh struck his grandmother who had stepped into the path of the car. 75 year old Chandravti Lakhan was transported to the hospital in critical condition. She couldn’t be saved.  According to the neighbors, the whole family is very united. The parents  and the grandparents live together  with 5 children in a house located on 267th St. near 83rd Ave in Queens, NYC. It wasn’t uncommon for Jadesh to take his grandparents out.  The whole family was visibly distraught by the tragedy.

Read more in the NY Daily News

Published on:

NYC MTA Subway logoOne MTA worker was seriously injured and another one died in a subway accident in NYC yesterday. The two men were working on the southbound G train track between the Fort Hamilton Parkway and Church Ave. stations in Kensington, Brooklyn. A little after midnight, a train running on the track struck them both. Emergency workers rushed to the location of the accident. One of the workers, a 53 year old man was transported to the hospital in critical condition. He later died from his injuries. The other worker, a 49 year old man, was also transported to the hospital. He was seriously injured but in stable condition. It is not clear why the two men were working on the track when the  subway train was in service. Read more in the NY Daily News

Published on:

92-20 Astoria Boulevard view from Goggle mapAn infant died in a car accident last week in Queens. 8 month old Navraj Raju was in a stroller pushed by his mother last Thursday morning when he was struck by a van. The mother and the infant were on the sidewalk when the driver of the van backed out of a driveway and hit the stroller. The van driver was unlicensed. The car accident occurred at 92-20 Astoria Boulevard.  The picture above shows the location of the accident. It is an area particularly difficult to navigate for pedestrians, especially families. Cars parked in front of the building between the deli and the gas station have to back out onto the sidewalk when leaving their parking space. They have reduced visibility when backing out. Additionally vehicular traffic is constantly crossing the sidewalk to access the gas station.

Astoria Boulevard was identified in 2015 as a Vision Zero priority. The segment of Astoria Boulevard between 80th street and 110th street was identified as a pedestrian crash corridor. It is among the top 10% most dangerous corridors for pedestrians in this particular neighborhood.  It is supposed to be re-engineered in the future to make it safer for pedestrians. The proposal from the Department of Transportation to make some specifically dangerous segments of Astoria Boulevard safer can be downloaded here.  However despite fixes being identified for Astoria Boulevard in 2015, not enough is being done by the de Blasio administration to quickly implement these changes. Transportation Alternatives organized a stroller protest to ask the Mayor to fulfill his promise to reduce traffic deaths.

Read more about the accident on Streetblog

 

Published on:

A construction worker died after falling from a scaffolding in New York City. 31 year old Michael Buffamante was working on scaffolding at the Coney Island Wastewater Treatment Plant in Sheepsheadbay yesterday. He was installing dechlorination equipment.  A little after noon he fell from his scaffolding into a 35 foot-deep sewage tank filled with wastewater and chlorine.

FDNY divers ran to the rescue and found the young worker lying at the bottom of the tank. They brought him to the surface. The worker was in cardiac arrest after having been in the water approximately 8 minutes . The paramedic gave him CPR and transported him to the hospital in critical condition. Buffamante died at the hospital. The worker was employed by Welkin Mechanical, a construction company based in Queens. According to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the worker was wearing protective equipment.The DEP did not specify what type of protective eqipment. Further investigation will be necessary to determine the exact cause of the accident.

Read more in the NY Daily News

Published on:

Northern Boulevard and Prince aerial viewA pedestrian was fatally struck by a car in New York City last night. The 79 year old man was crossing the street at the intersection of Northern Boulevard and Prince Street in Flushing, Queens, when he was struck by a SUV.  The driver was a 56 year old woman. She stayed at the scene of the accident and wasn’t charged. The pedestrian was transported to the hospital in critical condition. He later died from his injuries according to the NY Daily News.

Northern Boulevard is considered one of the most dangerous arterial roads in New York City. When mayor de Blasio signed 11 Vision Zero bills into law he held his press conference on Northern Boulevard and 61st Street.  This is where 8 year old Nashat Nahian (whose family is represented by our firm) was killed by a  truck driver on his way to school.

Northern Boulevard is a Vision Zero Priority Corridor. To reduce pedestrian deaths on the Northern Boulevard, the DOT recently presented several safety projects to local community boards such as Northern Blvd – Honeywell St to Broadway Corridor Safety Improvements and the Northern Boulevard – 105 St to 114 St Corridor Safety Improvements.