PEDESTRIAN, AGE 76, STRUCK AND KILLED BY NEW YORK CITY CORRECTIONS DEPARTMENT VEHICLE WHILE CROSSING QUEENS BOULEVARD
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Attorney)
I've driven Queens Boulevard a zillion times. I live near it; I work near it. It never fails to amaze me how many people cross Queens Boulevard carelessly. Rightly or wrongly, fairly or unfairly, Queens Boulevard is known as the "Boulevard of Death."
There are even signs placed up and down the road, telling us that "A pedestrian died here," and warning drivers and pedestrians to be careful. Sometimes friends, family and loved ones of the deceased attach a wreath to a Queens Boulevard pole or guardrail as a remembrance. But are the drivers always to blame?
I've seen young parents enter the moving lanes of traffic pushing a baby stroller ahead of them. In the event of a car strike, the stroller would be hit first. I've seen senior citizens walking against the traffic light, moving ever so slowly, betting their lives that an oncoming car, bus or truck will see them and/or yield to them and/or stop in time. I've seen street crossers who only look straight ahead, where they're walking - never looking to the side checking to see if oncoming cars are bearing down on them. I want to shout at them to swivel their heads and check oncoming traffic.
In the early morning hours of Friday, August 7, 2010, Robert Borchers, age 76, purchased a newspaper in Kew Gardens, Queens, and jaywalked across Queens Boulevard at 80th Road.
A marked New York City Department of Corrections vehicle plowed into him, killing him. Borchers was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The driver, a civilian Correction Department employee, 40, remained on the scene. No criminality is suspected.
Comment: Some witnesses told officers that Borchers had the right of way, but authorities believe that he was walking against the light. So who's to blame here? Did this pedestrian cross the street without looking? Did he see or not see what should have been there to be seen - a motor vehicle? Will his family bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the New York City Department of Corrections? If so, they have 90 days to file a notice of claim against the City of New York. There are, of course, no winners here. Only losers.
