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:

location of the fatal pedestrian accident in the RockawaysA 64 year old pedestrian was fatally struck by a car as he was crossing Seagirt Boulevard near Beach 31st Street in Far Rockaways, Queens, NYC, on Saturday  around 6:50 pm

Seagirt Boulevard is notoriously dangerous  and multiple crashes occurred on the 6-lane Boulevard in the past. Since 2019 one motorist died and 90 people were injured in crashes – including 19 pedestrians and 7 cyclists – on Seagirt Boulevard between Beach 9th Street and Rockaway Parkway. Speeding is so common that in 2019, one of the speed cameras installed on Seagirt Boulevard had the highest yearly amount of tickets recorded of all the speed cameras of New York City. Despite  this sad record it took the DOT until last September to announce that Seagirt Boulevard will finally be subjected to a road diet. (Read more about the accident in the NY Daily News)

Another pedestrian, father of 12 children, was killed by a hit and run driver in Manhattan on Sunday morning around 5:45 am

Published on:

location of the tractor trailer truck accidentA cyclist was killed in a hit-and-run tractor trailer accident in New York City on Thanksgiving day. The victim was riding her  bike East on Liberty Avenue near the intersection of the Van Wick Expressway Service Road in Queens, NYC when she was struck by a tractor trailer truck making a left turn onto the Van Wick Expressway Service Road.

The victim, a 43 year old woman, was knocked down from her bicycle, and fell under the truck where she got trapped.  She was then dragged several feet by the truck. The truck driver never stopped. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.

The truck driver who was behind the wheel of a 2014 Kenworth T8 Series tractor trailer truck is a 48 -year old man who was later on identified by the police. The accident is still being investigated by the police. The intersection of Liberty Avenue and Van Wick Expressway is extremely dangerous, especially for people on micro mobility devices.

Published on:

The dangerous NYC intersection where a pedestrian was killedA pedestrian was killed in a car accident on a dangerous street of New York City.  The accident occurred on Monday afternoon around 3Pm. 73 year old Yingqui Liu was crossing South Avenue  when he was struck by the driver of a van making a left turn from Forest Avenue in Staten Island.

According to Transportation Alternatives, while 3 people died in crashes on Forest Avenue since 2019, no major safety improvements have been made on Forest Avenue west of Morningstar Road  since Vision Zero started.

So far this year 223 people died in crashes in New York City, including 99 pedestrians. Among the victims 42 of them were 65 and older.

Published on:

70 people died in traffic accidents in New York City during the third quarter of 2022. Among the victims were 26 pedestrians, 4 cyclists, 15 motor vehicle passengers and 25 motor vehicle operators. Pedestrians and motor vehicle operators accounted for most of the deaths while passengers fatalities reached a record high.

Since Vision Zero started in 2014, auto accident fatalities gradually declined from 82 during the third quarter of 2013 to a record low of 56 fatalities during the third quarter of 2019. However, everything changed during the Covid19 crisis of 2020 when NYC streets were almost empty and speeding caused traffic fatalities to peak again and reach 77 during the third quarter of 2020. Since then, the number of fatalities during Q3 never went back below 70.

Auto accident fatalities NYC Q3 2022

While fatalities remained higher than usual, car accident injuries stayed lower than usual

Published on:

accident sceneReckless driving was a factor in multiple deadly crashes in New York City that occurred at the end of last week.

  • The first accident occurred Friday early morning, around 2:30 am when a 23 year old driver identified as Ravinder Singh who was drunk behind the wheel killed his 29 year old passenger Harjot Singh,  in a wrong way crash on the Brooklyn-Queens-Expressway. The driver is now facing several charges including criminally negligent homicide and drunk driving. (read more in the NY Daily News)
  • A few hours later. around 6:30 am  another deadly wrong way accident occurred, involving a car and an ambulance that was transporting a victim that was previously hit by another car (see previous blog). The victim, a mother of two young children, died and several EMS members were injured and hospitalized.
Published on:

ocation of the deadly crash in Staten IslandA woman died and 4 others suffered personal injury after a car crashed into an ambulance. The accident occurred last Friday morning around 6:30 am in Westerleigh, Staten Island, NYC.

The pedestrian was first  injured after being struck by a car as she was stepping out of her home

35 year old, Maria Martinez, a mother of two children had just stepped out of her home and was walking to the bus stop when she was struck by a car while crossing Jewett Avenue. The car was a Dodge charger and the driver remained at the location of the accident and was questioned by the police. So far he has not been charged. When the emergency team arrived with the ambulance at the location of the accident, they found the victim in critical condition. Paramedics quickly got her in the ambulance they were driving down Maine Avenue in the wrong way in an attempt to reach the hospital faster and save Maria’s life. Ambulances are authorized to do so when the life of someone is endangered.

Published on:

Glenwood road and Flatbush where the MTA accident occurredA MTA bus driver fatally struck a pedestrian in Brooklyn, NYC. The bus accident occurred at the intersection of Flatbush Ave and Glenwood Road in Flatbush around 6:15 PM last Thursday.

79 year old Loraine Hector was in the crosswalk when the MTA bus driver made a left turn and struck her. The bus driver remained at the scene of the accident and so far was has not been charged. Loraine Hector who lived 500 feet away from the accident scene suffered a severe head trauma. She was still alive when she was transported to the hospital but died later on from her injury.

According to the NYPD, the bus driver made a left turn from Flatbush Avenue onto Glenwood Road when he struck the victim. Read more in the Brooklyn Paper

Published on:

Another cyclist was fatally struck by a tractor trailer in NYC on Wednesday. The tractor trailer was on a non truck route. The victim was identified as 25 year old Kala Santiago, a mother of 2 children, 2months and 1 and half year old. She was on her way to work and was riding her bicycle on Parkside Avenue near Parade Place in the vicinity of Prospect Park when the fatal accident occurred.

Truck driver blames the victim even though he failed to yield to her

So far the police did not charge  the truck driver who was identified as Saeed Ahmed. He told the police that the cyclist fell under his truck after she hit a vehicle parked on the side of the road. He also said he saw the cyclist in front of him and she seemed nervous. The driver also told Liam Quigley from the NY Daily News (see twitter post below) that he saw the cyclist and overtook her but stopped as soon as he saw she fell under the wheels of the truck.  Pictures of the accident seemed to indicate that Kala Santiago might have been crushed between a parked truck on the right side and the tractor trailer on her left side. Another surveillance video shows that the tractor trailer failed to yield to her and overpassed her with oncoming traffic in the other direction. As a result there was not enough space and the cyclist might have been crushed between the two trucks.

Published on:

car in bike lanes can cause deadly bicycle accidentsNew York cyclists are facing higher risk of getting injured or killed in accidents every time they have to go around vehicles parked in a bike lane.  To deter drivers from doing so, the city is proposing a new law that would allow citizen not only to report truck and cars parked in the bike lanes but also to get a percentage of the money the city will make by ticketing the offender.

New bill would pay back citizen $43.75 per vehicle reported to the DOT

A bill proposed by NYC councilman Lincoln Restler wants to use citizen enforcement to fight back against the multiple motor vehicles obstructing bike lanes. Bikers encountering violators would snap a picture of the vehicle and submit it to the department of transportation for review. If legit, the vehicle owner would then receive  a $175 ticket. The city would then give back 25% or $43.75 to the person who reported the violator.

Published on:

A reckless truck driver fatally struck a NYC pedestrian as he was in the crosswalk with the light in his favor. The truck accident occurred early morning  around 6:30 am on October 4th.

63 year old Benjamin  Berger was crossing the street at the intersection of Flushing Avenue and Bedford Avenue. He was in the crosswalk with the greenlight in his favor when a box truck turning left from Flushing Avenue onto Bedford Avenue literally rolled over him. A surveillance video posted by Williamsburg News shows the truck turning recklessly without slowing down and driving over the victim.  When  paramedics arrived at the scene of the accident they found the victim dead with severe body and head injuries. The man was living just a block away.

The driver was identified as 44 year old Torriez Bailey from Maryland. He was arrested by the police and charged with failure to use due care and failure to yield to a pedestrian.