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Comment: This is the time of year when I'm usually reporting on pool-drowning accidents. Usually involving small children, I remind pool-owners to fence-in their pools and lock their gates to avoid potentially fatal accidents. And use a pool alarm that triggers if a small child falls in. And if you're in the house and small children are in the pool, that's not good enough. You need to be supervising, not socializing.
But the news piece I mention below - reported in our local newspapers - just takes the cake. Two healthy, strong, 21 year-old young men drowned in an accident. Together. In a public pool.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Brooklyn accident injury lawyer)
RELATED POSTS:
TODDLER IN CRITICAL CONDITION AFTER STATEN ISLAND DROWNING ACCIDENT (Posted by Brooklyn injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on May 30, 2010)
TWELVE YEAR-OLD HARLEM GIRL DROWNS IN TRAGIC BEACH ACCIDENT WHILE ON NYC SCHOOL OUTING (Posted by Brooklyn injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on June 26, 2010)
WARM WEATHER COMING: CPSC WARNS ABOUT DROWNING ACCIDENTS (Posted by Brooklyn injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on April 27, 2011)
TODDLER CRITICALLY INJURED IN POOL DROWNING ACCIDENT (Posted by Brooklyn injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on May 24, 2010)
ELEVEN YEAR-OLD DROWNS IN FRIEND'S POOL IN LONG ISLAND (Posted by Brooklyn injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on June 18, 2010)
A PARTICULARLY HORRIBLE WAY TO DROWN (Posted by Brooklyn injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on March 1, 2010)
When: Wednesday, July 13, 2011, at about 8:30 AM.
Where: Public swimming pool, Lyons Pool in Staten Island, New York.
What: Two young men who wanted to be Navy SEALS - elite navy combat divers - drowned while practicing breath-holding exercises at a Staten Island pool. One was unconscious when rescued, and the other drowned before he could be taken out of the pool. Two working lifeguards and some 20 swimmers missed seeing the accident.
The two friend were floating face-down in the 3-foot-deep shallow end of the pool and were only spotted when a lifeguard whistled the end of an adult swim session.
Who: Bohdan Vitenko, age 21, died at Richmond University Medical Center. His Air Force-bound buddy, Jonathan Proce, 21, was revived and is in critical condition.
Authorities pointed out that two of the men's friends were also in the water at the time, but were not exercising.
How: Both men, who were in excellent shape, suffered heart attacks. Proce actually worked elsewhere as a New York City lifeguard.
Why: It's not clear if the two were following official training guidelines, or if they had constructed their own workout.
Vitenko and Proce, along with two other friends, worked out regularly at the municipal pool since it opened for the season some two weeks ago.
Their workout included underwater sit-ups and swimming laps.
Either way, the military advises against certain breath-holding exercises or swimming underwater at length to avoid "shallow water blackout," which can lead to drowning.
City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe was quoted as saying, that the incident was a "tragic and inconceivable accident."
RELATED POSTS:
DEATH, DEATH AND MORE DEATH IN ONE DAY OF MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS - CARS, BUSES, TRUCKS AND PEDESTRIANS ALL INVOLVED (Posted by Brooklyn injury lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on January 6, 2010)
TEENAGE PEDESTRIAN, CROSSING STREET, STRUCK BY AMBULETTE AND DIES FROM INJURIES (Posted by Brooklyn injury lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on June 11, 2008)
ELDERLY PEDESTRIAN IN CAR ACCIDENT; DIES FROM INJURIES (Posted by Brooklyn injury lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on April 6, 2008)
PEDESTRIAN KILLED BY CAR (Posted by Brooklyn injury lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on December 31, 2007)
ARREST FOR FATAL HIT-AND-RUN IN BROOKLYN (Posted by Brooklyn injury lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on December 29, 2007)
On Thursday, June 30, 2011 a Ford Explorer was backing up on Manhattan's Amsterdam Avenue near 89th Street, trying to grab a parking spot.
A mother and daughter were crossing the street at the time. The mother was killed, the daughter was seriously injured in the accident.
"Two ladies come crossing. They had the right of way. This man just came out of nowhere, just hit them, hit both ladies. The elderly lady took the worst impact because she started bleeding all over the place," said one witness at the scene. "He couldn't wait to get his parking. I don't think he even bothered to look.
This horrible accident happened at around 5:00 in the late afternoon.
The mother, Yolanda Casal, age 78, was thrown through the air and suffered massive head injury. She was pronounced dead at Saint Luke's Hospital.
Casal's daughter, Anais Emmanuel, age 41, suffered broken ribs, and after the accident could only console her dying mother as she lay on the street, surrounded by onlookers.
"Look out! Look out!" a man screamed as the maroon Ford Explorer zipped in reverse along an upper West Side street and headed straight for Yolanda Casal, 78, and her daughter.
"The lady just flew," said David Gomez, 47, who was sitting outside a nearby laundermat.
His friend was the one who had yelled the unheeded warning.
The driver, a New Jersey man, Edwin Carrasco, age 38, remained at the scene, was arrested and charged with driving with a suspended license and other charges related to the accident, the police said.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens accident attorney)
RELATED POSTS:
NEW YORK CITY ACCIDENTS: ON FOOT OR IN A VEHICLE, BE CAREFUL! (Posted by Queens accident attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on March 8, 2011)
DRUNK HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER KILLS PEDESTRIAN (Posted by Queens accident attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on February 7, 2011)
DRIVERS WHO RUN STOP SIGNS CAUSE ACCIDENTS; CHILDREN ARE FREQUENTLY VICTIMS (Posted by Queens accident attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on February 21, 2011)
ONE DEAD, ONE HURT IN SEPARATE CAR ACCIDENTS IN QUEENS, STATEN ISLAND (Posted by Queens accident attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on November 28, 2010)
FIVE PEDESTRIANS INJURED IN TWO QUEENS CAR ACCIDENTS (Posted by Queens accident attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on October 29, 2010)
Cyclist critical after car plows into him, throws him in the air
A 53-year-old bicycle rider was struck and thrown into the air by a silver Jaguar automobile as he was riding along a street in Manhattan's Chinatown on Monday, June 27, 2011.
The gray mountain bicycle was crossing Canal Street heading towards Broadway when the Jaguar - driving east on Canal Street - struck it. The silver Jaguar had damage to its windshield and sun roof where the man fell.
Witnesses say that the man was rendered unconscious and was bleeding profusely from a head wound. Also, he wasn't wearing a helmet.
He was reportedly at Bellevue Hospital in critical condition.
Police were at the scene speaking to the driver. No arrests have been made.
Queens 7-year-old fighting for her life after being hit by bus
On Monday June 27, 2011, a 7-year-old Queens girl ran into the street to escape a loose dog and was struck by a school bus.
The unnamed girl is fighting for her life after she was struck shortly before 4 pm when she darted into traffic at Craft Ave and 258th Street in Rosedale, Queens.
Horrified witnesses said the commotion started with a dog that was running loose on the street.
Cops said the bus driver was heading eastbound on 258th Street and was turning left onto Craft Avenue when the girl darted out and was grazed by the right side of the bus.
She is at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where she's in critical condition.
"I stopped the bus but she still hit it," said the driver, who declined to give his name. "I called 911. I took off my shirt to help her."
Cops said there was one child on the bus at the time of the accident who was not injured.
A 6-year-old girl is clinging to life after being mowed down by a drunken driver in Queens, cops said on Wednesday June 29, 2011. Reportedly, 6 year-old Zanaya Smith was left in critical condition after being hit by the drunk driver when she was waiting for an ice cream truck.
Police say the child, whose name has not been released, was hit shortly after 7:30 PM at 168th Place and 104th Avenue in Jamaica.
Smith - who lives in Brooklyn and was visiting family in Jamaica, Queens, was taken to Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where she remains in critical condition.
Neighbors say they heard the driver's brakes screech before hitting the girl.
The driver, Kent Lowrie, 53, of Jamaica was taken into custody after failing a Breathalyzer test, cops said.
He was charged with DWI and vehicular assault.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens accident attorney)
RELATED POSTS:
LONG ISLAND MOTHER AND 11 YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER SERIOUSLY HURT AND THEN DIE IN ACCIDENT WITH TRACTOR TRAILER (Posted by Queens accident attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on April 8, 2010)
BROOKLYN, QUEENS AND BRONX (NEW YORK CITY) TRUCK ACCIDENT LAWYER (Posted by Queens accident attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on March 27, 2010)
HIT-AND-RUN ACCIDENT LEAVES INJURED WOMAN FIGHTING FOR HER LIFE (Posted by Queens accident attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on March 14, 2008 )
FIRE TRUCK SLAMS INTO POST OFFICE 18-WHEELER (Posted by Queens accident attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on January 18, 2008)
PEDESTRIAN LOSES LEGS IN CHINATOWN BUS ACCIDENT (Posted by Queens accident attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on January 14, 2008)
A Queens-bound tour bus heading from Louisville, Kentucky, to Flushing, Queens, crashed into the rear of a flatbed tractor-trailer on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on Monday, June 27th at about 7:30 in the morning. The accident happened about 45 miles east of Pittsburgh.
The bus was carrying Asian tourists. Passengers injured in the accident were taking to various Pennsylvania hospitals. Killed was bus driver Bo Hua Tan, age 39, of New York City. Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident.
A 13-year-old Staten Island girl on her way home from the last day of school died in an accident on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 a little after noon, after being run over by a tractor-trailer truck.
Aniya Williams, age 13, had gotten only a few blocks from her Staten Island school when she was hit by the rig of a tractor-trailer as she crossed a street, police said.
Aniya, who attended the Staten Island School of Civic Leadership, was pinned under the truck at South Ave. and Goethals Road North, police said.
Witnesses said the truck had a green light, and one said the truck "wasn't going that fast."
Police said Aniya crossed against the light as she darted across South Ave.
The accident occurred as Aniya crossed the north side of Goethals Rd. North from north to south near its intersection with South Avenue. The truck, headed west, was hauling an empty trailer.
The girl's grieving mother said if a crossing guard were assigned to the intersection, it may have saved her daughter's life.
School kids often run across the intersection to catch city buses, said Ernest Eans, a 55-year-old retired correction officer who knows the area.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later," Eans said. "There's no crossing guard."
An off-duty EMT who had stopped at a nearby Sunoco station when the accident occurred said Aniya was talking the while he and others pulled her from beneath the truck.
"I kept telling her, 'You're doing all right. Just keep talking to me.' I asked her where it hurt, and she said, 'Everywhere.'"
The driver, Edison De La Cruz, 52, of Newark, was questioned about the accident by police but cleared of any wrongdoing, police said.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn accident injury attorney)
Who: Bronx resident Fatoumata Diallo, age 21. Diallo, a native of Ghana, had been studying at Borough of Manhattan Community College and dreamed of becoming a doctor, according to family members. She had just celebrated her birthday last Thursday.
What: Fatal accident. An aspiring doctor was killed in a horrific subway accident yesterday when she passed out on a sweltering Upper East Side platform and fell onto the tracks -- realizing what happened too late to escape an uptown train bearing down on her.
When: Wednesday, June 1, 2011, at approx. 3 PM
Where: East 77th Street and Lexington Avenue, along the No. 6 train line
Why: Diallo regained consciousness after falling onto the rail bed, and desperately tried to get out of the way of the No. 6 train by scrambling to the area between the north- and southbound tracks.
But she couldn't move fast enough. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Fatoumata Binta Amina Diallo, 21, "was cut in half," said one shocked witness. The police said that no criminality was suspected, although an investigation was continuing.
Riders said temperatures in the subway station were very high as the mercury outside reached 90 egrees, making it the hottest day of the year so far.
With added humidity, it felt closer to 102 degrees, said AccuWeather meteorologist Mike Pigott.
Straphanger Amber Shanks, 19, from The Bronx, said, "It's extremely hot down here. It's not safe."
How: A young woman was killed when she fell onto the subway tracks and was struck by a train on the Upper East Side. The Bronx woman had been returning from a dental appointment, said her family.
The first 911 call was received at 3:09 p.m., said Frank Dwyer, a spokesman for the Fire Department. The train that hit the woman was a rerouted No. 5 train making local stops along the No. 6 line, said Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for New York City Transit. The train's operator was interviewed by investigators, Mr. Ortiz said.
Service was disrupted afterward. In both directions, No. 6 trains ran express between 125th Street and Grand Central Terminal, and some downtown No. 6 trains ended at East 86th Street, Mr. Ortiz said. By 7 p.m., service had returned to normal, he said.
RELATED POSTS:
CAUSES OF CAR, TRUCK, BUS AND MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENTS (Posted by Brooklyn accident injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on January 5, 2010)
MANHATTAN WOMAN JUMPS ONTO SUBWAY TRACKS; CRUSHED TO DEATH BY TRAIN (Posted by Brooklyn accident injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on March 13, 2010)
SUBWAY WORKER ELECTROCUTED IN FATAL ACCIDENT (Posted by Brooklyn accident injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on April 26, 2010)
MOTORCYCLE BOUNCES OFF TRAIN, HUSBAND & WIFE DIE FROM INJURIES (Posted by Brooklyn accident injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on April 14, 2010)
SUBWAY ACCIDENT; TRAIN MAYBE STOPS, MAYBE RUNS OVER WOMAN ON TRACKS - BUT SHE'S BARELY SCRATCHED! (Posted by Brooklyn accident injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on May 25, 2010)
SUBWAY ACCIDENT VICTIMS ON FIRST DATE (Posted by Brooklyn accident injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on May 19, 2010)
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; accident injury Brooklyn lawyer)
From NY1:
Police are searching for the hit-and-run driver who struck a teenage boy in Belle Harbor, Queens last night.
Police say the teen was hit by a burgundy GMC Envoy SUV as he crossed Rockaway Beach Boulevard at Beach 139th Street around 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2011.
The accident victim was taken to Kings County Hospital in critical condition with head and knee injuries
Neighbors said he lives in the area; his name wasn't immediately released.
-------------------------
From N.Y. Post:
Cops are searching for a driver who hit a Brooklyn pedestrian last night, and then sped off without stopping.
The driver struck an adult on 86th Street and Bay 34th Street in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2011 and then left the scene.
The accident victim suffered neck and back injuries, and was taken to Lutheran Hospital in stable condition.
The driver has not been caught, police said.
RELATED POSTS:
ROSEDALE PASTOR ACCIDENT VICTIM, HURT IN HIT-AND-RUN (Posted by accident injury Brooklyn lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on February 15, 2011)
DRUNK HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER KILLS PEDESTRIAN (Posted by accident injury Brooklyn lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on February 7, 2011)
ONE DEAD, ONE HURT IN SEPARATE CAR ACCIDENTS IN QUEENS, STATEN ISLAND(Posted by accident injury Brooklyn lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on November 28, 2010)
BRONX BOY PLAYING BALL IN STREET STRUCK AND INJURED BY HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER(Posted by accident injury Brooklyn lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on August 30, 2010)
BROOKLYN PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY - MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS (Posted by accident injury Brooklyn lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on July 26, 2010)
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; accident injury Queens lawyer)
Who: Errol Wilson, age 59, a married father of two, was killed in a work accident.
What: An 18-year veteran New York City highway worker (Roadway Repair and Maintenance Division) was killed in an accident that involved a Department of Transportation vehicle.
When: Just after midnight on Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Where: In Queens, on the Cross Island Parkway near Northern Boulevard.
Why: He was working as a highway repairman, part of a roadway paving project, at the time. Killed in a tragic accident when one of his coworkers backed up a truck into him.
How: He was pronounced dead on arrival at North Shore University Hospital.
The NYPD is investigating the cause of the accident; Police don't suspect any criminality on the part of the truck driver, a 46-year-old male DOT employee.
RELATED POSTS:
WHAT IS A "MOVE OVER" LAW? WHY YOU BETTER KNOW THE ANSWER! (Posted by accident injury Queens lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on January 10, 2011)
BROOKLYN, QUEENS AND BRONX (NEW YORK CITY) TRUCK ACCIDENT LAWYER (Posted by accident injury Queens lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on March 27, 2010)
TOO MANY DRIVERS HURT IN ACCIDENTS IN HIGHWAY WORK ZONES (Posted by accident injury Queens lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on December 23, 2009)
OFF-DUTY COP BLASTED BY GARBAGE TRUCK (Posted by accident injury Queens lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on March 1, 2008)
WOMAN HIT, KILLED BY RIG ON QUEENS BLVD. (Posted by accident injury Queens lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on December 20, 2007)
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn injury accident lawyer)
As told in the N.Y. Post:
Who: 2-year-old Andrew Powell of the Bronx had an accident.
What: He tumbled from a fourth-story Bronx apartment window. He's in critical condition and fighting for his life.
When: Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Where: His family's Grand Ave. apartment in Morris Heights, Bronx, New York.
Why: The family appeared to have removed the window guard, which is required for homes with children under 11, said Penny Wisneski, president of Reliant, the company that manages the building. "This is a tragedy," she said. "There were window guards. It appears that they were removed to put an air conditioner in. We didn't remove them."
But the air conditioner had been taken out, leaving no barrier to stop the child from climbing out, she said. The building's management company is inspecting other apartment windows to make sure the guards are installed, Wisneski said. No one is expected to be charged, police said.
How: Juan Fernandez, 60, said he was playing dominoes outside the building about 7 p.m., when he saw the toddler suddenly land on the sidewalk.
"It was traumatizing," he said. "The baby just landed by our feet. It caught us by surprise."
The little boy lay motionless as blood began to pour from his right ear, Fernandez said.
"Then he started shaking a little and we were glad he was still alive."
Emergency workers responded minutes later and took the injured boy away. He was in the intensive care unit at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell last night.
RELATED POSTS:
COLLEGE STUDENT FLEEING ROBBERS TUMBLES FROM ROOF; WAS IT AN ACCIDENT OR WAS HE PUSHED? (Posted by Brooklyn injury accident lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on April 11, 2010)
RAILING FAILURE = DEADLY BALCONY PLUNGE ACCIDENT (Posted by Brooklyn injury accident lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on March 17, 2010)
"DROP SIDE" CRIB BRANDS RECALLED; THREE DEATHS TO INFANTS REPORTED (Posted by Brooklyn injury accident lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on February 10, 2010)
BAREFOOT IN THE (N.Y.C.) PARK; KIDS GETTING BURNED (Posted by Brooklyn injury accident lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on July 21, 2008)
BRONX TODDLER RECOVERING AFTER FALL FROM WINDOW (Posted by Brooklyn injury accident lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on November 23, 2007)
KINGS COUNTY COMMUNITIES
Serving Brooklyn neighborhoods of: Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bensonhurst, Bergen Beach, Boerum Hill, Borough Park, Brighton Beach, Broadway Junction, Brooklyn Heights, Brownsville, Bushwick, Canarsie, Carroll Gardens, City Line, Clinton Hill, Cobble Hill, Coney Island, Crown Heights, Cypress Hills, Ditmas Park, Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Dyker Heights, East Flatbush, East New York, Flatbush, Flatlands, Fort Greene, Fort Hamilton, Fulton Ferry, Georgetown, Gerritsen Beach, Gowanus, Gravesend, Greenpoint, Highland Park, Homecrest, Kensington, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, Midwood, Mill Basin, New Lots, Ocean Hill, Ocean Parkway, Paerdegat Basin, Park Slope, Plum Beach, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Prospect Park South, Red Hook, Remsen Village, Rugby, Sea Gate, Sheepshead Bay, Spring Creek, Sunset Park, Vinegar Hill, Williamsburg, Windsor Terrace and Wingate.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Accident Lawyer)
Who: A tour run by Chinatown operator L & L Travel, but a bus belonging to TraveLynx of Cocoa, Florida., which employed one Steve Drappel.
What: Timothy White, age 29, of Philadelphia was struck and dragged under the rear wheels of a tour bus. At the time he was walking eastbound across Ninth Avenue. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital and there pronounced dead.
When: Saturday May 7, 2011
Where: Manhattan, Ninth Avenue and West 47th Street
Why: Drappel failed a Breathalyzer test with a blood alcohol of .08 - twice the legal limit of .04 for commercial drivers - and was charged with vehicular manslaughter and DWI.
How: Tour bus driver Steve Drappel, age 57, drinking vodka while driving. Sipping from silver travel mug as he drove tour bus in Manhattan. Mr. Drappel was finishing a three-hour tour through Manhattan. The bus, with some 40 tourists, had visited South Street Seaport and Rockefeller Center and had just left Times Square on its way to the airport hotels near Newark, where many of the passengers were staying, said Kevin Luong, the safety manager of L & L Travel, the Chinatown agency that organized the tour.
RELATED POSTS:
STONED TEENAGE DRIVER "BORROWS" CAR & KILLS TWO IN CAR CRASH (Posted by Queens Injury Accident Lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on August 6, 2008)
PEDESTRIAN HIT BY CAR IN BROOKLYN, THEN HIT BY ANOTHER (Posted by Queens Injury Accident Lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on April 13, 2008)
DRUNK-DRIVING WALL STREET MOGUL MOWS DOWN 9/11 SURVIVOR (Posted by Queens Injury Accident Lawyer) Gary E. Rosenberg on January 26, 2008)
PEDESTRIAN LOSES LEGS IN CHINATOWN BUS ACCIDENT (Posted by Queens Injury Accident Lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on January 14, 2008)
FAMED JOCKEY'S DAUGHTER PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN FATAL DUI (Posted by Queens Injury Accident Lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on December 21, 2007)
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn accident injury attorney)
Brooklyn man on bicycle delivering pizza, age 22, struck by hit-and-run vehicle on Thursday May 5, 2011 at 6:30 in the evening.
Luis Torres, age 22, died in an accident after he was slammed by a Budget rent-a-truck that took off after hitting him.
Torres was riding his bicycle on Fort Hamilton Parkway at 59th St. while delivering pizza for Amnon Kosher Pizza.
The as yet unnamed 25-year-old driver of the truck tried to drive away but cops caught him about a block away from the accident, cops said. He was awaiting arraignment.
Torres was taken to Brooklyn's Lutheran Hospital for his injuries and there declared dead.
His wife, Laura Campoberdecq, 19, reportedly was too upset to give a statement.
According to the deceased's uncle, 33 year-old Edgar Ingacq, "He was a good person."
Some two years ago Torres and his wife came to Brooklyn from Ecuador to save money for their daughter, 2-year-old Kelly Denisse Inga.
'Bloodbath' as runaway car smashes into pedestrians at bus stop, in bodega
A woman lost control of her car on Friday, May 6, 2011 at 3:00 PM, jumped the curb, and smashed into two people waiting at a Brooklyn bus stop in a scary accident.
The car continued into a nearby bodega, careening into customers sitting at tables.
According to witness Shimi Marcus, age 22, "It was a bloodbath." And, "I saw two young kids, maybe teenagers, waiting outside [the bus stop]. She [the driver] smashed right into them and threw them like toys through the glass [of the bodega]."
The 1995 Nissan Maxima, was registered to a Long Island woman The car's driver -- an as yet unidentified an older woman -- injured six people as she was trying to make a left turn.
Witnesses said the car accident started when the Nissan swerved into a bus stop at the intersection of Brooklyn's McDonald Avenue and Avenue I, hitting the two people.
It then crashed into the bodega, Anisha Food, which was crowded with customers.
"There was one man who was totally drenched in blood, head to toe," Marcus said.
Deli worker Mamun Allam -- who was behind the counter when the car came crashing through the store -- said it sounded like "an explosion."
"When I got up to check on everyone in the restaurant, I thought they were all dead," he said.
According to cops, none of the persons injured in the accident face life-threatening injuries.
It's not known why the car crashed; no charges are expected to be brought against the driver - who is either very lucky or unlucky - depending on your point of view here.
RELATED POSTS:
SEVERAL INJURED IN ACCIDENT WHEN CAR JUMPS CURB OUTSIDE MANHATTAN COURTHOUSE (Posted by Brooklyn accident injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on April 12, 2008)
VAN JUMPS CURB IN HARLEM; SEVEN PEDESTRIANS HURT (Posted by Brooklyn accident injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on May 17, 2008)
HIT-AND-RUN ACCIDENT LEAVES INJURED WOMAN FIGHTING FOR HER LIFE (Posted by Brooklyn accident injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on March 14, 2008)
TRUCK JUMPS CURB, STRIKES THREE PEDESTRIANS ON SIDEWALK (Posted by Brooklyn accident injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on February 13, 2008)
VAN KILLS WOMAN EATING IN ARBY'S (Posted by Brooklyn accident injury attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on January 10, 2008)
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; Serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Injury Attorney)
WHO: Bronx fire killing a mother, father and their 12-year-old son and injuring eight others, officials said.
WHAT: Accident. Two-alarm fire that left three people dead in the Bronx. The children were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital. Four other residents were taken to Jacobi Medical Center for smoke inhalation and two firefighters were treated for minor injuries.
12-year-old Christian Garcia, his 40-year-old mother Christina and her partner, 36-year-old Juan "Manuel" Lopez.
Neighbors said the dead couple had two younger children who escaped with an uncle.
WHEN: Monday April 25, 2011 about 3:30 a.m.
WHERE: Accident and fire occurred in a Bronx apartment building, second floor of 2321 Prospect Ave. near 185th Street in Belmont, Bronx, New York
HOW: "There were heavy fire conditions on both the second and third floors of a three-story brownstone. When we arrived, numerous people on the street were screaming," FDNY Assistant Deputy Chief James Leonard said.
Eduardo Sanchez had a room on the second floor of 2321 Prospect Avenue, and he lost everything, including the money he was saving to move out. He came home from work to learn three of his neighbors' deaths.
"I saw them every day. Every day I saw them," said Sanchez. "We chit-chat, had little conversations. They were good-hearted people."
"It's all rooms. There's like four rooms to a floor - all separate doors," said 25-year-old bouncer Eduardo Sanchez, whose second-floor apartment was destroyed in the blaze.
Sanchez said ConEd had recently cut off power.
"The lights been off for a couple of days. We didn't have power for almost a week," he said. "The owner must not have paid that."
ConEd confirmed shutting off service on April 14, the same day the buildings department received its most recent complaint.
Officials also said a wire was bringing in illegal electricity from outside power source through a window and that Con. Ed shut it down last week. Looks like the fire started by accident.
City officials said the building was illegally occupied.
"The building should have been empty," a law enforcement official told The Post.
Those who lived in 2321 Prospect Avenue said the second and third floors each had four rented rooms. Residents said there was a smoke detector in the building, but it was not working.
WHY: Seems like there was an illegal boarding house being operated there. Without the many building code safety protections that boarding house are required to have, even a fire started by accident can be catastrophic.
"It's been like that for a year. The place went into foreclosure and people kept going in there," said neighbor Mike Lopez. "There's been 10 different families that moved in and out of there,easily."
Property records show the building had slipped into foreclosure in 2005 and that ownership had passed through several banks since then. Neighbors said squatters soon began taking over.
The cause of the accidental blaze was not immediately known. It took about 100 firefighters to control the blaze.
WITNESSES: Neighbors said they were awakened by the smell of smoke and that flames soon engulfed the building.
"We tried to go outside and there were flames burning so bad we could barely get out," said 31-year-old Stephanie Marsh, who lives in the adjoining building.
The building next door was damaged as well. A resident there, Stephanie Marsh, said she heard screaming and glass breaking, and she dialed 911 before escaping with her family.
"When we got to our front door, the next door was, their front door was engulfed in flames so it was hard for us to even get out," said Marsh. "It's just hard right now because I'm about to have another child. What are we going to do?"
New York City Buildings Department records show numerous complaints dating back to 2009 about amateurish electrical wiring, illegal subdivisions and a lack of secondary exits from apartments. Residents said the floors had been cut up into single-room apartments.
The records show inspectors tried to gain access to the building many times but were unable to get inside.
The last owner of record, Domingo Cedano - who runs a used car dealership on Park Avenue in the Bronx - said he had spoken to fire officials but insisted he had nothing to do with the building.
"I feel bad, but I am not the owner anymore," he said. "I don't want to give any information because the building is under investigation."
Local residents said the three victims were a family of immigrants from Mexico - a 40-year-old mother, 36-year-old father who worked in construction, and the 12-year-old son.
"They are a good family," said one neighbor, who gave only her first name, Ruthie.
The parents had two other children who survived after being pulled out of the building by their uncles. The uncles also lived in the apartment, neighbors said.
One of them tried to run back into the building, but was repelled by the flames. He then ran to the roof of a neighboring building and tried calling to his brother, but got no response.
"He never answered, he never came out," said Delsa Martinez, who lost her second-floor apartment in the fire. "It happened so fast. They were good people. I can't believe they died in seconds like that."
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CARELESS USE OF SPACE HEATERS IN COLD WEATHER CAN INJURE OR KILL (Posted by Brooklyn Accident Injury Attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on January 15, 2011)
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BRONX FIRE CRITICALLY INJURES TWO (Posted by Brooklyn Accident Injury Attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on February 23, 2010)
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From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Bronx Car Accident Injury Lawyer)
WHEN: Thursday April 21, 2011, at approx 2:50 P.M.
WHAT: Fatal accident; pedestrian killed when a livery taxi cab went out of control, hopped a curb in the Bronx, and smashed into a storefront.
WHO: 61-year-old woman, Carmen Ahmed, died in the Bronx accident. Six others were injured.
WHERE: Accident occurred at Bainbridge Avenue and East Fordham Road intersection in the Bronx.
WHY & HOW: Driver lost control of his Lincoln Town Car, it jumped sidewalk, and struck a building, "Cee and Cee" department store. The taxi tore through a plate glass display window, and smashed into the woman, who was shopping inside.
The fatally injured woman was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx; there she was pronounced dead.
Six other people suffered minor injuries in the crash: two other store shoppers, a store security guard, the driver, and his two passengers - a man and child sitting in the back seat of the taxi. All were taken to St. Barnabas and were in stable condition Thursday night.
The names of injured accident victims were withheld by authorities
No arrests are expected.
The accident is still under investigation.
Workers at the store said a similar accident happened at the same corner.
"This is the second time this happened in this store," said another employee. "It hit the pole outside, that's all."
Residents in that section of Fordham said the local traffic pattern is threatening, and that several intersections and a number of traffic lights can be dangerous for drivers.
"It's easy to get into a crash, especially this way when you're trying to turn and also there's a lot of holes here and your car could jump," said a local. "A lot of times my car jumped and I almost got into an accident."
ACCORDING TO WITNESSES:
"The car was about halfway across the intersection when everyone started screaming, 'Oh, my God! Oh, my God!' " said witness Juan Gonzalez Sanchez, 32.
"I turned and saw the car slam into the store."
The car pinned the legs of the woman, who had been using a walker, witnesses said.
"I was in the back room having lunch. I heard a noise and ran inside, and the lady was on the floor," said a shaken store employee.
"I ran to see what was happening, and everybody was trying to help the lady," she said.
"All I heard was a big boom and next thing you know, the cops and everyone else surround the area," said a store employee.
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EIGHT THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOUR NEW YORK CAR ACCIDENT-PART ONE - THE FIRST FOUR QUESTIONS (Posted by Bronx Car Accident Injury Lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on June 1, 2010)
SUDDEN ACCELERATION OF S.U.V. AT BROOKLYN CHURCH KILLS ONE IN FATAL ACCIDENT; FOUR OTHERS INJURED AND TAKEN TO BROOKLYN HOSPITAL (Posted by Bronx Car Accident Injury Lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on March 8, 2010)
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BRONX COUNTY COMMUNITIES
Serving Bronx neighborhoods of: Baychester, Bedford Park, Belmont, Castle Hill, City Island, Clason Point, Country Club, Eastchester, Edgewater Park, Fieldston, Fordham, Hart Island, High Bridge, Hunts Point, Kings Bridge, Longwood, Melrose, Morris Park, Morrisania, Mott Haven, Mount Eden, Mount Hope, Norwood, Olinville, Parkchester, Pelham Bay, Port Morris, Rikers Island, Riverdale, Schuylerville, Soundview, Spuyten Duyvil, Throgs Neck, Unionport, University Heights, Van Nest, Wakefield, West Farms, Westchester, Westchester Square, Williamsbridge and Woodlawn.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Car Accident Injury Lawyer)
A Brooklyn man was booked on DWI and manslaughter charges Saturday on April 9, 2011. He smashed up a car in a drunk driving accident on the Belt Parkway near Brooklyn's Flatbush Ave. at Marine Park, killing his girlfriend, the mother of one of his children.
Kareem DuPass, 34, lost control of the speeding 1996 Ford Explorer in the accident, where it hit a guardrail and flipped on its roof at about 5 AM, officials said.
His longtime girlfriend, Amanda Marty, 30, was sitting in the front seat when the vehicle rolled over, cops said.
DuPass' brother, Jason, 21, was in the backseat at the time of the accident with an unnamed 33-year-old man.
One of the men, his face bloodied, was lying in front of the crumpled SUV when emergency workers responded, a source said. Nearby was a wheel torn from the vehicle's rear axle.
The victims were taken to Brooklyn's Brookdale University Hospital, where Marty died. Jason DuPass was still in a coma from injuries suffered in the accident.
Marty and DuPass lived together in Bushwick, Brooklyn, with two children - Kareem, 16, who is DuPass' son, and Terrell, 12, the couple's son.
Marty's heartbroken mother said the couple dropped Terrell off at her house before they went out for the night, which was rare.
"She was very special to me - my pride and joy, my only child," Luzmaria (Maria) Surita, 62, told the Daily News. "I really, really deeply miss her."
Marty, a census worker, had just enrolled in York College to study nursing, friends and family said.
Hours after the deadly accident and wreck, DuPass - a construction worker - was hit with a litany of charges that include manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, DWI, reckless driving and speeding. Dupass, who cops said was charged with DWI in 2007, suffered minor injuries in the Brooklyn accident.
"She was a beautiful person," Surita said of her daughter. "I'm going to miss her a lot."
But Surita said she's not angry at DuPass, who she said didn't have a reputation for drinking hard.
"I'm not mad at him," she said.
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QUEENS COUNTY COMMUNITIES
Serving Queens neighborhoods of: Arverne, Astoria, Auburndale, Bayside, Beechhurst, Bellaire, Belle Harbor, Bellerose, Blissville, Breezy Point, Briarwood, Broad Channel, Cambria Heights, College Point, Corona, Douglaston, East Elmhurst, Edgemere, Elmhurst, Far Rockaway, Flushing, Forest Hills, Fresh Meadows, Fresh Pond, Glen Oaks, Glendale, Hillcrest, Hollis, Holliswood, Howard Beach, Hunters Point, Jackson Heights, Jamaica, Jamaica Estates, Jamaica Hills, Kew Gardens, Laurelton, Lefrak City, Linden Hill, Lindenwood, Little Neck, Long Island City, Malba, Maspeth, Middle Village, Murray Hill, Neponsit, Oakland Gardens, Ozone Park, Pomonok, Queens Village, Queensboro Hill, Rego Park, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood, Rockaway Park, Rockaway Point, Rosedale, Saint Albans, Seaside, South Jamaica, South Ozone Park, Springfield Gardens, Steinway, Sunnyside, Utopia, Wave Crest, Whitestone, Woodhaven and Woodside.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Car Accident Injury Lawyer)
Man arrested after 2 cops injured in Bronx crash
Arrested for a drunk driving accident on Friday, April 8, 2011, at just after midnight, was one Mike Diaz, of Connecticut, age unknown.
Diaz was charged with aggravated DWI and vehicular assault.
Diaz was barreling in a northerly direction in his Dodge Neon on Claremont Avenue near Fulton, in the Bronx. He crossed a double-yellow line and smacked head-on into a marked police cruiser.
In the accident, the left front hood of the police car was mashed and the Dodge's roof was torn I the collision.
Taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, the cops are expected to make full recoveries.
Diaz his four passengers were hospitalized and are expected to recover.
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QUEENS COUNTY COMMUNITIES
Serving Queens neighborhoods of: Arverne, Astoria, Auburndale, Bayside, Beechhurst, Bellaire, Belle Harbor, Bellerose, Blissville, Breezy Point, Briarwood, Broad Channel, Cambria Heights, College Point, Corona, Douglaston, East Elmhurst, Edgemere, Elmhurst, Far Rockaway, Flushing, Forest Hills, Fresh Meadows, Fresh Pond, Glen Oaks, Glendale, Hillcrest, Hollis, Holliswood, Howard Beach, Hunters Point, Jackson Heights, Jamaica, Jamaica Estates, Jamaica Hills, Kew Gardens, Laurelton, Lefrak City, Linden Hill, Lindenwood, Little Neck, Long Island City, Malba, Maspeth, Middle Village, Murray Hill, Neponsit, Oakland Gardens, Ozone Park, Pomonok, Queens Village, Queensboro Hill, Rego Park, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood, Rockaway Park, Rockaway Point, Rosedale, Saint Albans, Seaside, South Jamaica, South Ozone Park, Springfield Gardens, Steinway, Sunnyside, Utopia, Wave Crest, Whitestone, Woodhaven and Woodside.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Car Accident Injury Attorney)
Culinary student Adrian Rodriguez, age 18, was struck in the head and killed by a subway train at New York City's Union Square Station on Friday morning, April 1, 2011.
A southbound "5" train killed the future chef, who lived in the Bronx.
Witnesses said the teen appeared pale as he walked along the Union Square Station platform just before 8 a.m. He was clipped by the southbound train as he fainted or fell.
He died from head trauma in New York City's Bellevue Hospital on Saturday, April 2, 2011.
Rodriguez was a student at Marta Valle High School in Manhattan's lower East Side, where he was highly regarded by students and teachers alike.
"It's going to be hard for kids at school to deal with this," said his friend Laura Cuautle, 17. "He used to help everyone out in class because he was so good at cooking ... he was one of the most generous people."
"Adrian will be greatly missed. He touched a lot of people's hearts," said Kwame Onwuachi, who was a mentor to the hardworking 18-year-old. "He had everything going for him. He was following his dreams."
Onwuachi hired Rodriguez as an intern at his catering business last year and said the student secured an internship at top chef Tom Colicchio's posh downtown restaurant Craft. He won the Careers through Culinary Arts Program junior competition last year and was vying for a scholarship to the coveted Culinary Institute of America.
The medical examiner's office said an autopsy will take place.
Rodriguez lived with his mother and grandmother. Neighbors never saw the teen without his backpack filled with cookbooks and cooking utensils.
"He had his future ahead of him," said Adrian Garcia, 37. "He was going to be a great chef."
A Web site affiliated with the school indicated that Mr. Rodriguez was an aspiring chef and included pictures of him baking cakes with fellow students and accepting an award.
The authorities said it was unclear what precisely caused him to fall on the platform on Friday.
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From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Car Accident Injury Attorney)
Fatal pedestrian knockdown accident on Thursday, March 31, 2011. Caroline Tunage, age 56, of Brooklyn, New York was crossing Columbia Street at its intersection with Summit Street.
A company van owned by Dirusso Electrical Contracting struck and killed her as she crossed the street at about 7:30 P.M.
A Brooklyn woman was fatally struck by a commercial van yesterday as she was crossing a notoriously dangerous intersection during her morning walk to work.
Police report that the van's driver of the van was distraught after striking down the woman.
Tunage was taken to Long Island College Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Coworkers and others who knew the deceased woman say that she loved wlaking the streets of Brooklyn. She particularly enjoyed getting off the New York City subway befoer her stop and strolling to her job at Time Moving & Storage, where she had been employed for some nine years as a receptionist.
She reportedly had strong relationships with three sisters, and an adult daughter, who attends New York's Fashion Institute of Technology.
She also never gave up on a dream to become a dancer -- a dream that motivated her many years ago to move to New York from Maryland.
Tunage was a "creative" employee and beloved by co-workers for drawing them holiday pictures, according to the owner of the company she worked for.
"It was a terrible shock. I just spoke to her last night," said Tunage's mother, Sarah. "She was only a few blocks away from work when it happened . . . We will all miss her tremendously."
No charges were brought against the van's driver, who had been turning from Summit Street.
Calls to the van's owner, Dirusso Electrical Contracting, were not returned.
According to a local school crossing guard, the intersection where the death occurred is accident prone. "They need some traffic lights here," said the crossing guard. "I've witnessed maybe 10 near-misses. Sometimes the trucks ignore the stop signs."
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From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Attorney)
On Monday, March 28, 2011, a car exiting the Ed Koch-Queensboro-59th Street Bridge climbed a curb and struck a 68-year-old man killing him.
The unidentified man was on the corner of Queens Plaza North and Crescent Street at 4 a.m. when the 2007 Volkswagen slammed into him, police said.
The driver, an unidentified 35-year-old man, was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. He lost an arm in the accident. His female passenger, 31, was also in stable condition at Cornell Hospital.
The victim, whose name was not immediately released, was on the sidewalk in front of the Villa de Beaute hair salon in Long Island City about 4 a.m. when the car veered from the off-ramp and struck him, cops said.
He died at the scene.
"It was a horror movie - pools of blood running onto the street," said carpenter Yama Dastagirzada, 41, of Far Rockaway, who was the first person to come upon the wreck.
Cops said the 35-year-old driver lost an arm and was taken to Bellevue Hospital. A 31-year-old female passenger was taken to Cornell Weill Medical Center. Both were in stable condition and expected to live.
A police source said investigators took a sample of the driver's blood to check for alcohol, but the cause of the accident was unclear.
The car - a red four-door 2007 Volkswagen - slammed into the beauty parlor and the neighboring Espinal's Caribbean Restaurant II before coming to rest in the shadow of Silvercup Studios.
"I saw one man face down in the sidewalk. He was wearing all black. He wasn't moving," Dastagirzada said.
He then noticed the man was covered in blood and called 911. Dastagirzada then turned his attention to the passengers in the crushed car.
"I looked in and saw a hand moving," he said.
"I was going to try and turn off the ignition but the car was crushed from the top. I couldn't get in," he said. "The whole front end of the car was taken off."
"I stuck my head in there and asked him, 'Can you hear me?' There was no response. I told him an ambulance was coming and 'Just hang on.'"
The crash caused heavy damage to the two hair salon and restaurant. Salon owner Jiwani Akber said he didn't now when he would be able to reopen.
"Everything is destroyed," he said. "Everything I had was put into this shop."
"I'm glad it didn't happened during the daytime," he added. "It could have been worse."
Kathy Anderson, who owns a check cashing business along the same row of shops said it was not the first time a car had gone up onto the sidewalk after coming down the off-ramp.
"My store's been hit a few times," she said. "But this car must have been going really fast to do this kind of damage."
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From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Attorney)
According to the New York City Fire Department, a fatal accident occurred when a bicycle rider was struck by an M15 New York City bus on New York's Upper East Side, at around Second Avenue and 96th Street. Qi Yu Weng, age 28, was making deliveries when he was knocked off his electric bike.
The accident took place in the late afternoon on Friday, March 25, 2011, at about 4:15 PM.
The man died at the scene. This accident victim's identity was not immediately known; he lay dead in the street with a white sheet on top of him as horrified pedestrians walked by.
The bus driver kept going, apparently unaware he had hit someone.
Local resident Cynthia Gagan, age 66, who saw the accident's bloody aftermath while walking home from the grocery store said that the intersection is accident prone, a view shared by a worker from a nearby Rite-Aid pharmacy.
"I see accidents happen here all the time. This one just happened to slip by because you didn't hear a loud bang or a crash," said one employee who declined to give his name.
"Everything went on as normal until people found him on the street and started calling 911."
The bus was later found after it arrived at a Yonkers depot earlier this (Saturday) morning after the driver completed his shift, said MTA spokesman Charles Seaton. The driver was unawares of the accident.
"We examined all possible buses as they came into the depot," said Seaton.
The driver will be interviewed by the NYPD and drug and alcohol testing will be performed, he added. There appears to be no criminality, cops said.
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From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Bronx Accident Lawyer)
Tuesday March 22, 2011, Eight people were rounded up by the NYPD and charged with insurance fraud for staging car accidents in the Bronx this past June. One more suspect is being searched for.
Apparently, video surveillance showed police that they deliberately crashed their three cars into each other.
Last June, the NYPD Fraudulent Accident Investigation Squad set up surveillance video to bust the scam artists who purposely crashed their own vehicles into each other. According to police, they cruised the neighborhood slowly, trying to select an "accident" location.
They were seen driving around Cromwell Avenue and West 168th Street in the Bronx in a
a 1995 Subaru, a 1999 Land Rover, and a 2000 Ford. When their first try at a staged accident didn't do much damage to the cars, the crashed them together again.
The suspects called 911 to file a police report and sought medical treatment, milking $39,000 from insurance companies. Why the authorities waited until the bills for this not-accident totaled $39, is beyond me. It is not reported if those arrested recovered any money for their so-called injuries.
Even before reviewing the surveillance video, police were suspected that there was no genuine accident because all none of the cars were newer models, they had little body damage and they cars were packed with "accident victims."
Three women and five men were charged with insurance fraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records. They are:
*Drivers -
Hector Cruz, 21
Julio Rivera, 28
Carmine Navarra, 33
*Passengers -
Dekodar Vascones, 25
Luis Garcia, 31
Julie Dilonardo, 25
Venecia Reyes, 23
Sor Perez, 30
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BRONX COUNTY COMMUNITIES
Serving Bronx neighborhoods of: Baychester, Bedford Park, Belmont, Castle Hill, City Island, Clason Point, Country Club, Eastchester, Edgewater Park, Fieldston, Fordham, Hart Island, High Bridge, Hunts Point, Kings Bridge, Longwood, Melrose, Morris Park, Morrisania, Mott Haven, Mount Eden, Mount Hope, Norwood, Olinville, Parkchester, Pelham Bay, Port Morris, Rikers Island, Riverdale, Schuylerville, Soundview, Spuyten Duyvil, Throgs Neck, Unionport, University Heights, Van Nest, Wakefield, West Farms, Westchester, Westchester Square, Williamsbridge and Woodlawn.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Lawyer)
On Thursday March 17, 2011 a tractor-trailer driving in reverse pinned a Brooklyn resident between the trucks rear bumper and a street sweeper, crushing him to death.
The accident occurred in a recycling plant located in Maspeth, Queens, New York.
The man, identified by a relative as Ciban Pilaxi, age 22, was standing near the entrance to the Maspeth warehouse as the rig backed into the doorway, police said.
He was dead by the time emergency responders arrived at the warehouse on Railroad Place around 11:30 a.m.
Pilaxi's sister-in-law Mirian Huerta, 20, said he came to the United States from Ecuador three years ago. He had worked at the recycling company for about a year, and lived in Bushwick.
Huerta, who spoke to a Daily News reporter outside the recycling facility, said Pilaxi wanted to work, and then go back to Ecuador to be with his mother, sister and brother.
Police officials say there was no criminality on the part of the truck driver, who works for a New Jersey-based company. The warehouse is owned by a company called Boro-Wide Recycling Corp., an NYPD official said. A company representative could not be reached for comment.
The Federal Occupational and Safety Health Administration is investigating the accident, a spokesman said.
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From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Lawyer)
New York City police have slapped bicycle riders with 230 tickets to date this year; staking out the six mile bicycle loop in Manhattan's Central Park.
Officers aim to remind bicycle riders that New York traffic laws apply in the park and to bicycles.
A bike is "a vehicle and the traffic law applies," said Captain Philip Wishnia, commanding officer of the Central Park Precinct. "You can't blame officers for doing their job."
Wishnia insisted his officers use discretion before issuing summonses, factoring in speed and safety.
To prevent accidents, both between bicycles and with pedestrians, tickets are given for running red lights and even for speeding.
"I'm not against bicyclists. There is a reason the law was put in place," Wishnea said. "One injury to pedestrians is one injury too many."
Bicycle riders -- many who ride custom bikes that can sell for up to $10,000 -- point out that it's impossible to get keep up the heart rate and get a good workout when you have to stop every few feet.
"There would be no point of riding in the park if I stopped at every red light. What's the fun in that?" gripped Tom Laskey, 52, former president of the NY Cycle Club, who griped about getting a $270 ticket for running a red light in the park in January.
"Enforcing red lights to protect the crosswalk is meaningless," he said.
"Pedestrians don't cross in the walk, they cross wherever they want."
Michael Bar, 39, of the Upper West Side, kvetched, "It's a park and you're supposed to get vigorous exercise. If you stop at 47 red lights, you wouldn't get exercise."
He was stopped by cops Sunday for riding his $6,000 Merlin bike outside the painted bike lane, which he claims was blocked by runners. He was not issued a summons.
"It's about getting a good workout," said Bar.
Unlike fines for specific infractions by motorists, which are set by law, punishment for cyclists are at the discretion of the judge. And, of course, a conviction can not add points to a driver's license.
Some 200 angry cyclists packed a meeting with some of the NYPD's honchos on the Upper West Side to confront them about what they claim is an overly aggressive campaign to ticket cyclists.
Cyclists argue that it is unnecessary to stop for traffic lights during the early morning and late night hours when few pedestrians use the park.
Police maintain that the law is the law, and it applies to cyclists in the park as it does on streets, and accident avoidance is in every park user's best interest.
The enforcement is part of the NYPD's "Operation Safe Cycle," a citywide initiative that kicked off in mid-January and applies to cyclists in all five boroughs.
The Department of Transportation has dismissed a proposal by City Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who suggested traffic signals in the park be changed to a flashing yellow during hours that cars are prohibited.
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BICYCLIST PLOWS INTO PEDESTRIAN IN MANHATTAN'S CENTRAL PARK, AND KEEP GOING (Posted by Brooklyn Injury Lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on August 8, 2010)
BROOKLYN BICYCLE ACCIDENT LAWYER'S TOP TEN THINGS THAT GO THROUGH YOUR MIND AS YOU HAVE A BICYCLE ACCIDENT (Posted by Brooklyn Injury Lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on April 29, 2010)
BAD DAY FOR NEW YORK CITY BICYCLE RIDERS (Posted by Brooklyn Injury Lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on October 14, 2010)
BICYCLE HELMETS PROTECT CHILDREN'S BRAINS IN CASE OF AN ACCIDENT (Posted by Brooklyn Injury Lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on February 28, 2011)
ANOTHER CYCLIST KILLED! HIT BY A BUS AFTER AVOIDING DRIVER'S CAR DOOR (Posted by Brooklyn Injury Lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on September 14, 2010)
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Bronx Injury Attorney)
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Thirteen passengers were killed and eight others were critically injured when their tour bus overturned on the New England Thruway in Co-Op City, Bronx this morning.
A World Wide Tours bus carrying 33 people was on its way from the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut to Manhattan's Chinatown when it overturned at approximately 5:30 a.m. according to New York City Fire Department officials. The bus was heading south near the Hutchinson River Parkway exit when it overturned.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said at a morning news conference that most of the passengers were Asian, and besides the one death, everyone aboard the bus received serious or critical injuries.
Kelly said Jacobi Hospital is treating seven people with critical injuries and seven with serious injuries, and St. Barnabas Hospital received one critically injured person and four with serious injuries.
The crash cast a grim light on a nocturnal New York City subculture of overnight gamblers, many of them older Asian and Hispanic people, who take cheap buses from Chinatown to casinos in Connecticut and New Jersey, play the slots and tables for a few hours and catch an after-midnight bus home, usually sleeping on the trip back and often arriving just in time to get to return to work.
The driver, Ophadell Williams, 40, survived. He told the authorities that his bus was clipped by a passing tractor-trailer, which sped away, an assertion that the police later said was under investigation.
As the bus went down, its roof was nearly sliced off by a highway signpost, killing some people instantly and trapping others in the wreckage.
Kelly said the bus may have swerved to avoid the tractor trailer and lost control.
"We have apparently have some numbers from a license plate. We're not prepared to put it out at this time. We're attempting to locate that truck and the truck driver," said the police commissioner.
Chung Ninh, a bus passenger who said he escaped through the bus' back emergency exit, said some passengers lost limbs and many were crying out for help.
"Nobody can remember, because all on the bus [were] asleep. They were asleep on the bus, in the chairs," he said. "I heard two guys saying help, and after that I could not see nothing."
The passenger suffered minor injuries to his back, as he helped lift people who weighed considerably more than he did, and his hands were cut by broken glass.
"Some of them were holding their heads, hands on head, saying, 'Oh my god, oh my god, this is so terrible,'" said limousine driver Homer Martinez, who witnessed the aftermath. "When a second wave of people tried to approach the bus, they said, 'Please stay away, you don't want to look at this.'"
World Wide Tours is based in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and its ill-fated bus was set to make a stop at Allen Street in the Bowery and then Chinatown.
The wrecked bus remains at the scene of the accident, and will only be removed once state police finish their investigation.
Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking officers are currently working with survivors.
The New York City Fire Department has sent counseling team members to talk to some of the first responders, as the scene was particularly horrific, according to Kelly.
The accident has shut down traffic in all southbound lanes of Interstate 95 between Boston Post Road exit 15 and Hutchinson River Parkway exit 14.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg released a statement saying the city's "prayers, thoughts and sympathies are with the victims, and their families and loved ones," and that city agencies set up an assistance center to provide information to the bus passengers' families.
Later, at an evening news conference, Major Michael Kopy of the State Police said that the authorities had seized a trailer on Long Island and a tractor in Westchester County, and taken them to a police compound in Farmingdale to determine if they may have clipped the bus.
Major Kopy also said that the police had received several reports that the bus driver had been speeding on the Interstate, where the limit is 55 miles per hour. The bus driver's blood was tested for alcohol and drugs, and the results are pending.
The police have obtained a video taken from inside the bus but have not yet reviewed it, Major Kopy said.
For hours after the crash, investigators examined the wreckage of the black bus, which lay on its side on a highway strewn with shattered glass, passenger bags, shreds of clothing and other debris.
The stretch of highway near the crash is dotted with surveillance cameras, but most are traffic cameras with no recording capability. Those with recording devices will be examined by investigators.
Officials of the National Transportation Safety Board were en route to New York. Initial interviews with passengers were difficult, in part because survivors who had been seated in the front, and were thus more likely to have seen what happened, were the most traumatized and severely injured, while those at the back were less seriously hurt but had no clear view of the crash.
Kelly said New Yorkers should contact the 5th Police Precinct for more information.
RELATED POSTS:
SIX KILLED IN ONE-CAR CRASH ON NEW YORK STATE THRUWAY (Posted by Bronx Injury Attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on October 3, 2010 )
BUS HITS QUEENS GRANDMOTHER CROSSING STREET (Posted by Bronx Injury Attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on July 23, 2010 )
CITY BUS HITS GRANDMOTHER CROSSING STREET IN QUEENS ACCIDENT; SHE DIES FROM HER INJURY (Posted by Bronx Injury Attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on May 9, 2010 )
HIRING HELP AFTER AN ACCIDENT IS A SMART DECISION; FROM A BRONX PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY (Posted by Bronx Injury Attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on February 16, 2010)
DEATH, DEATH AND MORE DEATH IN ONE DAY OF MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS - CARS, BUSES, TRUCKS AND PEDESTRIANS ALL INVOLVED (Posted by Bronx Injury Attorney Gary E. Rosenberg on January 6, 2010)
BRONX COUNTY COMMUNITIES:
Serving Bronx neighborhoods of: Baychester, Bedford Park, Belmont, Castle Hill, City Island, Clason Point, Country Club, Eastchester, Edgewater Park, Fieldston, Fordham, Hart Island, High Bridge, Hunts Point, Kings Bridge, Longwood, Melrose, Morris Park, Morrisania, Mott Haven, Mount Eden, Mount Hope, Norwood, Olinville, Parkchester, Pelham Bay, Port Morris, Rikers Island, Riverdale, Schuylerville, Soundview, Spuyten Duyvil, Throgs Neck, Unionport, University Heights, Van Nest, Wakefield, West Farms, Westchester, Westchester Square, Williamsbridge and Woodlawn.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Lawyer)
On March 9, 2011 a New York City fire truck responding to an emergency call on Staten Island slammed into a van full of developmentally disabled adults, killing one occupant and sending two occupants to the hospital in critical condition, in a horrible accident.
A New York City Fire Department truck belonging to Ladder 81 that was racing to a call crashed into the van around 12:10 p.m. at the intersection of Richmond Road and Burgher Avenue.
The van, which was from an agency called Lifestyles for the Disabled, was carrying nine people between the ages of 20 to 50, and all the passengers had special needs, according to sources.
The van, owned by Willowbrook-based Lifestyles for the Disabled, was making a left turn off Burgher with the green light in its favor at the time of the acccident, said witnesses.
The fire truck smashed into the rear of the van's driver side with such force that it spun the vehicle around 180 degrees. Its tailgate smashed into a concrete wall and the van wound up facing down Burgher.
Fire and police officers at the scene said one person was ejected from the van and fatally injured, and that the jaws of life were used on another victim.
All nine people aboard the van were brought to Staten Island University Hospital, where the fatally injured person was pronounced dead.
Two of those patients are still in critical condition from the accident and four have been released, according to a SIUH official.
The fire truck crashed on its way to a car fire at Major Avenue and Lily Pond Avenue, near the Verrazano Bridge. The firefighters believed a person was trapped, but that report turned out to not be true.
The six firefighters in the truck suffered minor injuries but were able to get out and administer first aid to the people in the van, according to fire and police sources.
The firefighters were then taken to Richmond University Medical Center.
"I heard all the sirens, all the police, and I was wondering what was going on," said one local who overheard the commotion. "We couldn't get through for nothing. I thought maybe a bomb or some wall fell from there."
"I was just putting some stuff in the car, and I heard the fire truck going by me. I heard a huge bang, I looked up and I saw the van spinning around in circles," said another local. "The firemen jumped right out and started helping the people."
Officials would not comment on the accident, as it is still under investigation. Lifestyles for the Disabled has not said yet where the van was headed.
After the accident, several neighboring streets were closed off for hours and drivers were redirected to secondary roads.
RELATED POSTS:
FATAL STATEN ISLAND HIT-AND-RUN ACCIDENT LEADS TO DEATH (Posted by Brooklyn Injury Lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on July 11, 2010)
PERSONAL INJURY AND ACCIDENT ATTORNEY - SERVING JUSTICE (Posted by Brooklyn Injury Lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on January 18, 2010)
FIRE TRUCK SLAMS INTO POST OFFICE 18-WHEELER (Posted by Brooklyn Injury Lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on January 18, 2008)
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Lawyer)
A firefighter twice walked down the side of a building this past Friday, March 4, 2011 to rescue two construction workers hanging more than 100 feet in the air after their scaffolding collapsed.
The pair was working at building located at 289 Nepperhan Avenue in Yonkers, New York. A rope holding their scaffold broke at about 4:30 PM, dropping the scaffold into a vertical position, where it hung between the building's 12th and 14th floors for more than 90 minutes.
Fortunately, they were held by their safety harnesses - one construction worker clung to the bottom of the platform while the other latched onto the top as the temperature hovered around 38 degrees.
"One of the ropes snapped, and they were dangling, held up by one other rope," said witness Ross Bodin, whose shop Life Cleaners is across the street from the building at 289 Nepperhan Ave.
"They were connected with their harnesses, and they both held on ... These guys must be exhausted," he added.
Luckily, the two construction workers were sheltered from the gusting winds on the south side of the 28-story building that primarily houses senior citizens.
The Yonkers Fire Department initially tried to reach them by rescue ladder, but even fully extended, the ladder was at least 10 feet too short, witnesses said.
"They looked pretty scared ... At one point they looked like they were tired," Billy Hinds, owner of Billy's Hand Car Wash and Detail, said of the painters.
Rope rescue expert Mike Giroux was a hero not once, but twice. The 10-year veteran firefighter secured the first construction worker to a line then rappelled with him to the street where he was taken off in an ambulance.
The firefighter harnessed himself to the construction worker clinging to the lower part of the platform, and then slowly lowered both of them down to the ground.
Meanwhile, an emergency-response crew extended an extra safety harness to the second construction worker through a window, but were unable to pull him in.
Attached to the rappelling firefighter, the first worker reached the ground at around 6 p.m.
That firefighter then raced back to the roof and rappelled back down to secure the second construction worker -- still clinging to the platform -- about 15 minutes later.
"They were reaching a panic point and were both getting hypothermic and there's also a thing called harness compression syndrome. If they stay in those harnesses too long, it could become a life-threatening situation," said Fire Chief John Flynn. A Spanish interpreter was used to relay instructions to him and keep him calm, the Yonkers fire department said.
The second construction worker was brought down at 6:21 p.m. to applause.
You don't see stuff like this every day," one witness said.
RELATED POSTS:
One Worker Killed, Others Injured, in Trump SoHo Tower Accident
(Posted by Brooklyn accident lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on January 15, 2008 )
Construction Worker Killed When Scaffold Blown Over
(Posted by Brooklyn accident lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on January 30, 2008)
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Lawyer)
On February 28, 2011 a fire broke out in the early hours, at about 3:30 AM in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. The blaze began on the second floor of an apartment building at 269 Bleecker Street, Brooklyn, New York.
Neighbors watched in horror as flames engulfed the Brooklyn building. As smoke poured out, two young boys leaned out of the windows with small dogs in their arms, the neighbors said.
"I was saying jump, jump," said Eddie Clay, 60, who lives across the street. "But instead of jumping, they threw the dogs."
While Mr. Clay shouted to the boys, his wife, Gricelia Rodriguez, ran to a red fire alarm box on Myrtle Avenue, just yards away from Brooklyn's 83rd Precinct station house. The box did not work, she said, so she ran into the police station to summon officers, who later helped administer CPR.
Firefighters responded to a 911 call reporting the fire in two and a half minutes. The children, about 12 and 14, were rescued from the windows by local firefighters from Ladder Company 112, while members of local Ladder Company 124 searched the building for other residents who might be trapped by the smoke and/or flames.
According to sources, the interior of the Brooklyn apartment was dark from smoke; firefighters stumbled upon an unconscious woman in the kitchen and brought her to a stairwell. On the street below, other firefighters gave first aid, helped by officers from the local police precinct.
Meanwhile, firefighters pushed on into the blaze, against heat radiating from the rear of the apartment. A hose was then deployed to fight the flames. In the doorway of the rear bedroom, firefighters found a middle-aged man slumped over in cardiac arrest and pulled him out of the Brooklyn fire.
Neighbors identified the woman as Yolanda Nieves, 68, and the man as her son, Jerry Nieves; they lived in the second-floor Brooklyn apartment. Ms. Nieves was fixing up the vacant ground-floor apartment for another son, Elvis and his family.
Yolanda Nieves and Jerry Nieves both had respiratory burns and were hospitalized. The two boys, suffered from smoke inhalation and were also hospitalized. Some dogs were said to have died in the fire, although others survived.
Six residents were injured, two critically, by the fire at the Brooklyn building.
Two accident Brooklyn fire victims suffered smoke inhalation and were in critical condition. A female fire victim was taken to Cornell Hospital and a male fire victim to Jacobi Hospital. Another victim with minor injuries was taken to Wyckoff Hospital.
Two Brooklyn firefighters were also injured.
Brooklyn fire marshals determined that the fire started accidentally, probably near the back part of the building's first floor. The apartment had smoke alarms, but they lacked batteries, which very likely cost crucial time in alerting the family of danger, said Frank Dwyer, a Fire Department spokesman.
The fire was under control at 3:57 a.m.
Comment: It is vitally important to keep smoke detectors in good working order.
RELATED POSTS:
*FIRE KILLS MANHATTAN FAMILY; SMOKE DETECTOR BROKEN (Posted by Brooklyn lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on October 12, 2008)
*FIRES IN BROOKLYN AND BRONX; ONE FIRE KILLS (Posted by Brooklyn lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on November 16, 2010)
*CHANGE SMOKE AND CARBON MONOXIDE ALARM BATTERIES WHEN CHANGING CLOCKS THIS WEEKEND (Posted by Brooklyn lawyer Gary E. Rosenberg on November 4, 2010)
SERVING KINGS COUNTY (BROOKLYN) COMMUNITIES:
Serving Brooklyn neighborhoods of: Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bensonhurst, Bergen Beach, Boerum Hill, Borough Park, Brighton Beach, Broadway Junction, Brooklyn Heights, Brownsville, Bushwick, Canarsie, Carroll Gardens, City Line, Clinton Hill, Cobble Hill, Coney Island, Crown Heights, Cypress Hills, Ditmas Park, Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Dyker Heights, East Flatbush, East New York, Flatbush, Flatlands, Fort Greene, Fort Hamilton, Fulton Ferry, Georgetown, Gerritsen Beach, Gowanus, Gravesend, Greenpoint, Highland Park, Homecrest, Kensington, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, Midwood, Mill Basin, New Lots, Ocean Hill, Ocean Parkway, Paerdegat Basin, Park Slope, Plum Beach, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Prospect Park South, Red Hook, Remsen Village, Rugby, Sea Gate, Sheepshead Bay, Spring Creek, Sunset Park, Vinegar Hill, Williamsburg, Windsor Terrace and Wingate.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Lawyer)
Police say a driver lost control over his automobile while on an exit ramp on Shore Parkway in Brooklyn, New York, and slammed right into a utility pole on Sunday February 27, 2011. Witnesses say the motorist was traveling at high velocity. They claim an as yet unnamed 19-year-old male was operating the car at a high rate of speed when he lost control on the departure ramp at Knapp Street right before 1:30 a.m. Investigators say the vehicle rammed into a power pole.
The crash killed one of the passengers and injured two others together with the operator. The front passenger was delivered to the hospital where he was declared dead from his injuries. The driver and the two women occupying the back seat of the car were hospitalized in stable condition.
The driver and three other accident victims had to be pulled out.
The others were listed in stable condition.
No mention (yet) of possible criminality.
RELATED POSTS:
KINGS COUNTY COMMUNITIES
Serving Brooklyn neighborhoods of: Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bensonhurst, Bergen Beach, Boerum Hill, Borough Park, Brighton Beach, Broadway Junction, Brooklyn Heights, Brownsville, Bushwick, Canarsie, Carroll Gardens, City Line, Clinton Hill, Cobble Hill, Coney Island, Crown Heights, Cypress Hills, Ditmas Park, Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Dyker Heights, East Flatbush, East New York, Flatbush, Flatlands, Fort Greene, Fort Hamilton, Fulton Ferry, Georgetown, Gerritsen Beach, Gowanus, Gravesend, Greenpoint, Highland Park, Homecrest, Kensington, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, Midwood, Mill Basin, New Lots, Ocean Hill, Ocean Parkway, Paerdegat Basin, Park Slope, Plum Beach, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Prospect Park South, Red Hook, Remsen Village, Rugby, Sea Gate, Sheepshead Bay, Spring Creek, Sunset Park, Vinegar Hill, Williamsburg, Windsor Terrace and Wingate.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Lawyer)
A motorcyclist was clinging to life yesterday (February 24, 2011) after he was pinned under a bus in a chain-reaction Lincoln Tunnel crash that caused morning commuter chaos. A serious accident involving a motorcycle and three buses has shut done the center tube of the Lincoln Tunnel, causing major traffic delays. The accident happened about a quarter-mile from the Manhattan side of the center tube. Dozens of people were injured in the crash, which happened at around 7:30 a.m. The motorcyclist was taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition. According to the New York City Fire Department, 28 others were also transported to area hospitals. NY1 spoke with one passenger of a New Jersey Transit bus who was stuck in the tunnel for four hours. Cars and buses were backed out of the tunnel and allowed through another tube just before noon. crash, which also injured 52 people on three buses headed to Manhattan from New Jersey. "I was on the bus resting my eyes, and the next thing I knew was that my head hit the seat in front of me," said James Riley of Old Bridge, NJ -- whose bus was behind the bus that hit the motorcycle. "We hit the bus in front of us and we pushed it forward," explained Riley, who was treated at Roosevelt Hospital. Traffic wasn't back to normal until early afternoon, the Port Authority said. The crash remains under investigation.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Lawyer)
Today's post has nothing to do with personal injury or car accidents, bus accidents, motorcycle accidents, taxi or cab accidents, bicycle accidents, medical malpractice claims, construction accidents or what have you.
COMMENT: Anyone who has every watched a television crime shows knows about search warrants. No warrant, no kicking down the suspect's door. Invalid or incorrect or falsely-obtained warrant, and the judge will set the suspect free. That's how it is even if it's sometimes tough luck for that episode's crime victim.
The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits "unreasonable searches and seizures." This is why judges have to issue search warrants. And this protection against the government goes back to Colonial times, when even before the United States came in to existence, New World settlers resented the British Crown's broad use of searches to try to catch smugglers.
However, searches without warrants are permitted where the accused doesn't have an "expectation of privacy." Such as if you throw incriminating evidence into a curbside garbage pail for pick up.
So is it reasonable for authorities to take a border crosser's computer and pick through the hard drive? Is it reasonable to go through the text messages on your cell phone? Or check both devices to see what web sites you've visited? Does a law abiding traveler and/or citizen have an expectation of privacy while crossing the U.S. border?
Customs and Immigration Service officers can search border crossers. If you're on their "list." Or if they get suspicious in any of numerous ways that we don't even know. Except for obvious law-breaking, such as finding child pornography on a computer, should digital information be searchable on what seems like a whim? It seems to me we're getting dangerously close to prosecuting "thought crimes," where we criminalize people based on what they think.
I guess travelers wanting to protect business trade secrets or sensitive client information will have to smuggle in flash drives by hiding them on their bodies, while wiping clean their computer hard drives. Is smuggling a flash drive illegal? If not, will it be illegal some day soon?
The following article is from the New York Times.
If you stand with the Customs and Border Protection officers who staff the passport booths at Dulles airport near the nation's capital, their task seems daunting. As a huge crowd of weary travelers shuffle along in serpentine lines, inspectors make quick decisions by asking a few questions (often across language barriers) and watching computer displays that don't go much beyond name, date of birth and codes for a previous customs problem or an outstanding arrest warrant.
The officers are supposed to pick out the possible smugglers, terrorists or child pornographers and send them to secondary screening.
The chosen few -- 6.1 million of the 293 million who entered the United States in the year ending Sept. 30, 2010 -- get a big letter written on their declaration forms: A for an agriculture check on foodstuffs, B for an immigration issue, and C for a luggage inspection. Into the computer the passport officers type the reasons for the selection, a heads-up to their colleagues in the back room, where more thorough databases are accessible.
And there is where concerns have developed about invasions of privacy, for the most complete records on the travelers may be the ones they are carrying: their laptop computers full of professional and personal e-mail messages, photographs, diaries, legal documents, tax returns, browsing histories and other windows into their lives far beyond anything that could be, or would be, stuffed into a suitcase for a trip abroad. Those revealing digital portraits can be immensely useful to inspectors, who now hunt for criminal activity and security threats by searching and copying people's hard drives, cellphones and other electronic devices, which are sometimes held for weeks of analysis.
Digital inspections raise constitutional questions about how robust the Fourth Amendment's guarantee "against unreasonable searches and seizures" should be on the border, especially in a time of terrorism. A total of 6,671 travelers, 2,995 of them American citizens, had electronic gear searched from Oct. 1, 2008, through June 2, 2010, just a tiny percentage of arrivals.
"But the government's obligation is to obey the Constitution all the time," said Catherine Crump, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union. "Moreover, controversial government programs often start small and then grow," after which "the government argues that it is merely carrying out the same policies it has been carrying out for years."
One of the regular targets is Pascal Abidor, a Brooklyn-born student getting his Ph.D. in Islamic studies, who reported being frisked, handcuffed, taken off a train from Montreal and locked for several hours in a cell last May, apparently because his computer contained research material in Arabic and news photographs of Hezbollah and Hamas rallies. He said he was questioned about his political and religious views, and his laptop was held for 11 days.
Another is James Yee, a former Muslim chaplain at the Guantánamo Bay prison, who gets what he wryly calls a "V.I.P. escort" whenever he flies into the United States. In 2003, Mr. Yee was jailed and then exonerated by the Army after he had conveyed prisoners' complaints about abuse, urged respect for their religious practices and reported obscene anti-Muslim caricatures being e-mailed among security staff.
Years later, he evidently remains on a "lookout" list. A federal agent stands at the door of Mr. Yee's incoming plane, then escorts him to the front of the passport line and to secondary screening.
Arriving in Los Angeles last May from speaking engagements in Malaysia, he was thoroughly questioned and searched, he said, and his laptop was taken for three or four hours. He was not told why, but after it was returned and he was waiting to rebook a connecting flight he'd missed, a customs officer rushed up to the counter. "We left our disk inside your computer," he quoted her as saying. "I said, 'It's mine now.' She said no, and sure enough when I took the computer out, there was a disk."
Customs won't comment on specific cases. "The privacy rights that citizens have really supersede the government's ability to go into any depth," said Kelly Ivahnenko, a spokeswoman.
In general, "we're looking for anyone who might be violating a U.S. law and is posing a threat to the country," she explained. "We're in the business of risk mitigation."
Yet the mitigation itself has created a sense of risk among certain travelers, including lawyers who need to protect attorney-client privilege, business people with proprietary information, researchers who promise their subjects anonymity and photojournalists who may pledge to blur a face to conceal an identity. Some are now taking precautions to minimize data on computers they take overseas.
"I just had to do this myself when I traveled internationally," said Ms. Crump, the lead attorney in a lawsuit challenging the policy on behalf of Mr. Abidor, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National Press Photographers Association.
During a week in Paris, where she lectured on communications privacy, she had legal work to do for clients, which she could not risk the government seeing as she returned. "It's a pain to get a new computer," she said, "wipe it completely clean, travel through the border, put the new data on, wipe it completely clean again."
In simpler days, as customs merely looked for drugs, ivory, undeclared diamonds and other contraband that could be held in an inspector's hand, searches had clear boundaries and unambiguous results.
Either the traveler had banned items, or didn't. Digital information is different. Some is clearly illegal, some only hints at criminal intent, and under existing law, all is vulnerable to the same inspection as hand-carried material on paper.
Most pirated intellectual property and child pornography, for example, cannot be uncovered without fishing around in hard drives. "We've seen a raft of people coming from Southeast Asia with kiddie porn," said Christopher Downing, a supervisor at Dulles. If a person has been gone only two or three days and pictures of children are spotted in a bag, he explained, the laptop is a logical candidate for inspection. Such searches have been fruitful, judging by the bureau's spreadsheets, which list numerous child pornography cases.
But terrorism is an amalgam of violence and ideas, so its potential is harder to define as officers scrutinize words and images as indicators of attitudes, affiliations and aspirations. Random searches are not done, Mr. Downing said, although courts so far have upheld computer inspections without any suspicion of wrongdoing. In practice, something needs to spark an officer's interest. "If you open up a suitcase and see a picture of somebody holding an RPG," he noted, referring to a rocket-propelled grenade, "you'd want to look into that a little more."
The search power is preserved by its judicious use, Mr. Downing said. "If you abuse it, you lose it." he added. The A.C.L.U. doesn't want customs to lose it, Ms. Crump explained, but just wants the courts to require reasonable suspicion, as the Supreme Court did in 1985 for examinations of a person's "alimentary canal." The court distinguished such intrusive inspection from "routine searches" on the border, which "are not subject to any requirement of reasonable suspicion, probable cause, or warrant." The justices added in a footnote that they were not deciding "what level of suspicion, if any, is required for nonroutine border searches" of other kinds.
Laptop searches should be considered "nonroutine," Ms. Crump argues, something the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declined to do in 2008, when it reversed a judge's decision to suppress evidence of child pornography obtained during a suspicionless airport computer search.
With the search powers intact, Mr. Abidor no longer dares take the train home from his studies at McGill University in Montreal. He doesn't want to be stranded at the border, waiting hours for a bus, as he was in May. So last month his father drove up from New York to get him for vacation. The men were ordered to a room and told to keep their hands on a table while customs officers spent 45 minutes searching the car, and possibly the laptop, Mr. Abidor said. "I was told to expect this every time."
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Lawyer)
A dissatisfied plaintiff who bombarded his ex-lawyer with abusive legal papers has been barred from ever suing the attorney again, according to a recent decision.
After Donald Schechter asked to be relieved from representing Alexander Breytman in a 2003 landlord-tenant flap, Breytman began filing legal process against the lawyer and sending him letters calling him an 'incompetent liar, pure a--hole and a cretin, according to decision published Thursday.
Breytman filed suit, seeking more than $20 million from Schechter, accusing him of anti-Jewish discrimination in the vein of "Gabble antiseptic rant against Jew in Germany," which Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Arthur Schack interpreted as a reference to Hitler's minister of propaganda - Goebbels. And all of this notwithstanding that Schechter is Jewish.
Schack said "Breytman blames Schechter for his own shortcomings" and said Breytman should have heeded the admonition of Cassius to Brutus in Julius Caesar: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."
He barred Breytman from suing Schechter or his law firm in New York without the permission of the administrative judge of the county.
See Court's decision below:
Supreme Court, Kings County, New York.
Alexander BREYTMAN, Plaintiff, v. Donald SCHECHTER and Donald Schechter, P.C., Defendants.
Feb. 8, 2011.
ARTHUR M. SCHACK, J.
This action for legal malpractice, breach of contract, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation stems from the representation by defendants DONALD SCHECHTER and DONALD SCHECHTER, P.C. (collectively "SCHECHTER") of pro se plaintiff ALEXANDER BREYTMAN (BREYTMAN) in actions for malicious prosecution and false arrest against the City of New York and plaintiff's former landlord.
Ultimately, plaintiff BREYTMAN, after disagreeing with SCHECHTER about case strategy and engaging in abusive conduct toward SCHECHTER, terminated his representation by SCHECHTER in late November 2006. Plaintiff continued the actions as a pro se litigant, but failed to prevail against the City of New York and the landlord. Despite terminating SCHECHTER, plaintiff BREYTMAN continued to harass SCHECHTER and blamed SCHECHTER for not prevailing against the City and the landlord. In this action, plaintiff continued to harass SCHECHTER by serving papers directly upon SCHECHTER, not SCHECHTER's counsel, in violation of procedure and my preliminary conference order.
In the instant action, defendants move for: summary judgment and dismissal of plaintiff's complaint, pursuant to CPLR Rule 3212(a); and, enjoining plaintiff from initiating further litigation against defendants and from any further contact with defendants without prior court approval. Plaintiff cross-moves for a sanction of $10,000.00 against SCHECHTER, pursuant to 22 NYCRR § 130-1.1, "for being force against nonsensical motion for summery judgment that Donald Schechter is not entitled too and adding harassment to the complaint as sanction and order for protection from harassment and ordering Donald Schechter to pay $10,000.00 for being to defend against said motion [sic]." Plaintiff served the notice of cross-motion and supporting affidavit directly upon SCHECHTER, not upon SCHECHTER's counsel.
As will be explained, defendants DONALD SCHECHTER and DONALD SCHECHTER, P.C. are granted summary judgment and dismissal of the instant complaint. Plaintiff BREYTMAN is enjoined from commencing future litigation in the New York State Unified Court System against defendants DONALD SCHECHTER and DONALD SCHECHTER, P.C. without prior approval of the appropriate Administrative Justice or Judge. Defendant ALEXANDER BREYTMAN's cross-motion for sanctions against defendants DONALD SCHECHTER and DONALD SCHECHTER, P.C. is denied.
Background
BREYTMAN met with SCHECHTER in October 2003 regarding claims he sought to assert against the City of New York and his former landlord, the landlord of a Bronx apartment building, where he lived from about 1994 to January 2003. According to SCHECHTER, BREYTMAN told him that after the landlord purchased the building in 2001 or 2002, the landlord allegedly let the building fall into disrepair. Then, BREYTMAN formed a tenants' association and took the landlord to Housing Court to obtain repairs. BREYTMAN claimed, as a result of this, the landlord cut his telephone line, sent him harassing letters and falsely accused him of vandalizing the entrance door of the building by placing glue in the locks. Further, plaintiff alleged that he was arrested for vandalizing the locks. Then, after plaintiff made numerous court appearances in his criminal case, the Bronx County District Attorney's Office successfully moved to dismiss the criminal action because it could not meet its burden of proof. Moreover, plaintiff BREYTMAN told SCHECHTER that as a result of his arrest he suffered from stress and depression and then lost his job and apartment.
Plaintiff, on October 3, 2003, signed a retainer agreement for $7,500.00 with SCHECHTER [exhibit C of motion] for SCHECHTER's legal services in representing him in an action for malicious prosecution against the City of New York, the arresting detective and the landlord. SCHECHTER claims that he explained to BREYTMAN the difficult nature of the case and he never guaranteed plaintiff that he would win.
SCHECHTER had plaintiff sign authorizations for the release of plaintiff's medical records to support his claim and filed, on October 8, 2003, the notice of claim against the City of New York. Then, on November 25, 2003, SCHECHTER appeared with BREYTMAN at a General Municipal Law § 50-h hearing, where plaintiff testified about his claim and alleged injuries. Subsequently, defendants filed a complaint against the City of New York, the New York City Police Department and the arresting detective.
SCHECHTER also prepared and filed, on October 10, 2003, in Supreme Court, Bronx County, a complaint against the landlord and the building superintendent, who, according to plaintiff, falsely reported that BREYTMAN vandalized the building locks. All defendants were served. They answered, on December 2, 2003, asserting counterclaims that plaintiff left his apartment in a state of total disrepair when he moved out. SCHECHTER prepared and served a reply denying the counterclaims. The City of New York answered the complaint, on February 13, 2004. Then, the landlord prevailed on its motion to change venue to New York County. Following the change of venue, discovery took place in both actions and SCHECHTER prepared a bill of particulars, which was served on May 19, 2004, in response to a 38-item demand by the landlord.
SCHECHTER, in February 2004, referred plaintiff to a psychologist for an evaluation. He explained to BREYTMAN that he would need a psychologist to establish his current psychological status and determine a casual connection between plaintiff's arrest and prosecution and any psychological injuries he sustained. The psychologist examined him on three different dates and on May 3, 2004 issued a report. SCHECHTER advised plaintiff that the $1,500.00 fee for the expert psychologist's services would have to be paid by BREYTMAN, because the $7,500.00 retainer was for legal services, not experts' fees.
There were delays in having a preliminary conference. The preliminary conference in the landlord action was held on September 16, 2006. Shortly thereafter, SCHECHTER moved to consolidate the City action with the landlord action. The landlord cross-moved for summary judgment. SCHECHTER claims that at this time, in late 2006, his "relationship with plaintiff began to deteriorate. Plaintiff began engaging in abusive behavior and began undermining his claims ... by instituting separate lawsuits which I did not believe had any merit. Plaintiff disregarded my advice ... and proceeded to prosecute the [separate] actions pro se [¶ 24 of SCHECHTER's affidavit in support of motion]." SCHECHTER continued representing BREYTMAN, despite plaintiff's abusive and detrimental conduct, preparing opposition papers to the landlord's summary judgment motion and serving them on November 21, 2006.
SCHECHTER, on the next day, advised plaintiff BREYTMAN that he would seek to be relieved. Plaintiff responded with a rambling letter, dated November 31, 2006[sic], repeatedly accusing SCHECHTER of senility and incompetence, and then in larger print and boldface stating "YOU ARE FIRED" [exhibit D of motion]. Thereafter, on December 7, 2006, plaintiff BREYTMAN served SCHECHTER with a "Notice with Motion to Compel and Cease and Desist," in which he advised SCHECHTER that he would proceed pro se and requested the file and "privileged material" [exhibit E of motion]. Typical of Breytman's abusive behavior is a letter, dated January 2, 2007 [p. 148 of 209 pages attached to February 25, 2009 order to quash the subpoena of December 5, 2008, in Kings County Clerk Minutes for Kings County, Supreme Court Index No. 2423/06, ALEXANDER BREYTMAN v. OLINVILLE REALTY LLC and WEINER REALTY ], from BREYTMAN to SCHECHTER, in which BREYTMAN called SCHECHTER, among other things, "incompetent habitual liar," "pure Asshole" and "cretin."
Justice Karen Smith of Supreme Court, New York County, on March 7, 2007, issued a decision and order [exhibit F of motion], in which she: consolidated the two actions; dismissed all malicious prosecution claims; and, permitted the false arrest claim to proceed against the landlord and the building superintendent. Justice Smith, in a separate order the same day, March 7, 2007, relieved SCHECHTER as counsel for plaintiff BREYTMAN. Subsequently, while plaintiff proceeded as a pro se litigant, the remaining false arrest claim against the non-city defendants was dismissed [exhibit 1 of cross-motion].
Despite being relieved as BREYTMAN's counsel, SCHECHTER's contact with BREYTMAN, as well as BREYTMAN's abusive conduct toward SCHECHTER, did not end. SCHECHTER had the entire file photocopied and available for plaintiff. Plaintiff wanted the original file, despite being informed by Justice Milton Tingling, to whom the case had been reassigned in Supreme Court, New York County, that he was only entitled to a copy of the file. SCHECHTER explained, in ¶ 30 of his affidavit in support of the motion, that "[w]hile I had offered to provide plaintiff with a copy of the file, I did not want to provide him with the original out of concern that he might alter the original documents. In proceedings before the court in the underlying actions, plaintiff submitted copies of my letters which left out words and sentences or were otherwise altered."
On December 5, 2008, long after SCHECHTER provided BREYTMAN with a copy of the file, BREYTMAN served SCHECHTER with a subpoena for the original file, in connection with another of his pro se actions against the landlord, ALEXANDER BREYTMAN v. OLINVILLE REALTY LLC and WEINER REALTY, Supreme Court, Kings County, Index No. 2423/06 [exhibit G of motion]. Then, SCHECHTER served an order to show cause [OSC], dated December 12, 2008, to quash the subpoena and for a protective order [exhibit H of motion]. In his affirmation in support of the OSC, SCHECHTER pointed out how BREYTMAN altered documents to place SCHECHTER in a bad light and spent $1,091.34 to have the entire file copied for BREYTMAN. Then, BREYTMAN, in a letter to SCHECHTER, dated December 29, 2008, told SCHECHTER that he had twenty days to deliver "my property" but "[y]ou had chosen death you got no one to blame but yourself I am given another 10 days more days to deliver my property after which you fund how unwise your obtuse decision is [sic] [p. 206 of 209 pages attached to February 25, 2009 order to quash the subpoena of December 5, 2008, in Kings County Clerk Minutes for Kings County, Supreme Court Index No. 2423/06, ALEXANDER BREYTMAN v. OLINVILLE REALTY LLC and WEINER REALTY ]."
While this issue was pending before Justice Yvonne Lewis, BREYTMAN, in a February 18, 2008 letter to Justice Lewis [exhibit I of motion], admitted that he altered documents to redact privileged material. The same day, BREYTMAN sent a letter to SCHECHTER [exhibit J of motion] in which he told SCHECHTER "[a]s usually you are fat on your mouth short on your feet [sic]," "I will sue" and "show how incompetent you are." Justice Lewis, on February 25, 2009, granted SCHECHTER's OSC to quash the December 5, 2008 subpoena. Further, she ordered that BREYTMAN "shall not file the same or similar applications for relief without the prior written permission of the Court."
Justice Lewis, at the February 25, 2009 oral arguments on SCHECHTER's OSC, told plaintiff not to directly contact SCHECHTER. However, plaintiff BREYTMAN continued to directly contact SCHECHTER with motion papers [exhibit M of motion]. SCHECHTER's counsel sent a letter to BREYTMAN, dated June 18, 2010, advising him not to directly serve SCHECHTER [exhibit K of motion]. In the February 22, 2010 preliminary conference order in the instant action, signed by myself, plaintiff was ordered "to have no contact with defendant directly [exhibit L of motion]." However, plaintiff violated my order by subsequently sending an abusive letter [exhibit N of motion] to SCHECHTER, stating "[t]ake your [threats] and your family and shove up your ass you dick. I will only serve you. I suppose [being an] asshole runs in the family. I do not recognize your family, get used to it, you ASSHOLE DICKHEAD."
Despite being ordered by Justice Lewis, on February 25, 2009, to "not file the same or similar applications for relief without the prior written permission of the Court," plaintiff commenced the instant action, by filing the summons and his rambling, disjointed verified complaint on January 23, 2010, with eight causes of action, many of them duplicative. Plaintiff seeks, according to the verified complaint: the return of the $7,500.00 retainer; the return of the $1,500.00 psychologist's fee; $5,000,000.00 for breach of contract; $5,000,000.00 "for causing me paint and suffering [sic]"; $10,000,000.00 for punitive damages; and, the return of the original file and all copies of any material in the file.
Discussion
The proponent of a summary judgment motion must make a prima facie showing of entitlement to judgment as a matter of law, tendering sufficient evidence to eliminate any material issues of fact from the case. (See Alvarez v. Prospect Hospital, 68 N.Y.2d 320, 324 [1986]; Zuckerman v. City of New York, 49 N.Y.2d 557, 562 [1980]; Sillman v. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp., 3 N.Y.2d 395, 404 [1957] ). Failure to make such a showing requires denial of the motion, regardless of the sufficiency of the opposing papers. (Winegrad v. New York University Medical Center, 64 N.Y.2d 851 [1985]; Qlisanr, LLC v. Hollis Park Manor Nursing Home, Inc., 51 AD3d 651, 652 [2d Dept 2008]; Greenberg v. Manlon Realty, 43 A.D.2d 968, 969 [2nd Dept 1974] ).
CPLR 3212(b) requires that for a court to grant summary judgment the court must determine if the movant's papers justify holding as a matter of law "that there is no defense to the cause of action or that the cause of action or defense has no merit." The evidence submitted in support of the movant must be viewed in the light most favorable to the non-movant. (Boyd v. Rome Realty Leasing Ltd. Partnership, 21 AD3d 920, 921 [2d Dept 2005]; Marine Midland Bank, N.A. v. Dino & Artie's Automatic Transmission Co., 168 A.D.2d 610 [2d Dept 1990] ). Summary judgment shall be granted only when there are no issues of material fact and the evidence requires the court to direct judgment in favor of the movant as a matter of law. (Friends of Animals, Inc., v. Associated Fur Mfrs., 46 N.Y.2d 1065 [1979]; Fotiatis v. Cambridge Hall Tenants Corp., 70 AD3d 631, 632 [2d Dept 2010] ).
Defendants SCHECHTER met their CPLR Rule 3212(b) burden with a prima facie showing to the Court that as a matter of law plaintiff BREYTMAN's causes of action have no merit. Moreover, after viewing the evidence in support of SCHECHTER in the light most favorable to BREYTMAN there are no issues of material fact that would bar the Court from directing judgment in SCHECHTER's favor. Plaintiff BREYTMAN, in his opposition papers, fails to show that there are triable issues of fact. All eight causes of action are dismissed as a matter of law.
Plaintiff's eight causes of action are all variations on the same theme of legal malpractice. "The elements of a cause of action sounding in legal malpractice are that the defendant attorney breached a duty of care to the client and that the breach was a proximate cause of actual damages Tortura v. Sullivan Papain Block McGrath & Cannavo, P.C., 21 AD3d 1082, 1083 [2d Dept 2005]; DeGregorio v. Bender, 4 AD3d 384 [2d Dept 2004]; Aversa v. Safian, 303 A.D.2d 700 [2d Dept 2003] )." ( DiGiacomo v. Levine, 76 AD3d 946 [2d Dept 2010] ). (See Rudolph v. Shayne, Dachs, Stanisci, Corker & Sauer, 8 NY3d 438, 442 [2007]; Boone v. Bender, 74 AD3d 1111, 1112 [2d Dept 2010]; Maiolini v. McAdams & Fallon, P.C., 61 AD3d 644, 645 [2d Dept 2009]; Hamoudeh v. Mandel, 62 AD3d 948, 949 [2d Dept 2009] ). The Court, in Natale v. Samel & Assoc. (308 A.D.2d 568, 569 [2d Dept 2003] ), instructed:
To succeed in an action to recover damages for legal malpractice, a plaintiff must establish that (1) the defendant attorney failed to exercise that degree of care, skill, and diligence commonly possessed and exercised by a member of the legal community, (2) the attorney's negligence was a proximate cause of the loss sustained, (3) the plaintiff incurred damages as a direct result of the attorney's actions, and (4) the plaintiff would have been successful if the attorney had exercised due care. (See Olaiya v. Golden, 45 AD3d 823, 823-824 [2d Dept 2007]; Mourtil v. Korman & Stein, P.C., 33 AD3d 898, 899 [2d Dept 2006]; Avery v. Sirlin, 26 AD3d 451 [2d Dept 2006] ).
Moreover, defendants supported their instant summary judgment motion with an affirmation from Steven B. Samuel, Esq., who has been qualified in New York Courts as an expert in legal malpractice actions. Mr. Samuel reviewed: plaintiff's complaint; SCHECHTER's affirmation in support of the motion; the file maintained by SCHECHTER in connection with his representation of plaintiff BREYTMAN in the underlying malicious prosecution and false arrest claims; and, recent cases with respect to the elements and proof required in an action for malicious prosecution and false arrest. Mr. Samuel noted that BREYTMAN's separate pro se lawsuits against the landlord for negligence and civil rights violations, against the advice of SCHECHTER, hurt the cases in which SCHECHTER represented BREYTMAN. He asserts that plaintiff's negligence claims against SCHECHTER "amounts to little more than a client's criticism of his attorney's strategy [¶ 32 of Samuel affirmation]" and "Mr. Schechter's selection of the theories under which to proceed was entirely appropriate under the circumstances [¶ 33 of Samuel affirmation]." In ¶ 35 of his affirmation, he states correctly that "it is well settled under New York law that an attorney cannot be held liable for discretion exercised during the course of a litigation. See Rosner v. Paley, 65 N.Y.2d 735 [1985]."
The Court, in Ideal Steel Supply Corp. v. Beil (55 AD3d 544, 546 [2d Dept 2008], quoted from Rosner v. Paley at 738, that "the selection of one among several reasonable courses of action does not constitute malpractice," when it affirmed the dismissal of a legal malpractice action based upon the choice of a claim to pursue by plaintiff's counsel, to the exclusion of other claims. Mr. Samuel concludes, in ¶ 42 of his affirmation, that "I can state with a reasonable degree of certainty that Mr. Schechter's representation of plaintiff comported with the standard of care of a reasonable prudent attorney, and there is no merit to plaintiff's claim of negligence against Mr. Schechter."
Since plaintiff BREYTMAN's claims are primarily for legal malpractice, he was required in opposing defendants' summary judgment motion to present "an expert affidavit delineating the appropriate standard of professional care and skill' that the defendants were required to adhere to under the circumstances." (Schadoff v. Russ, 278 A.D.2d 222, 223 [2d Dept 2000], citing Greene v. Payne Wood & Littlejohn, 197 A.D.2d 664, 666 [2d Dept 1993] ). Plaintiff's failure to present an expert affidavit requires the granting of defendants' motion for summary judgment and dismissal of plaintiff's legal malpractice claim. (See Natale v. Samel & Assoc. at 569; Schadoff at 223). Plaintiff's opposition papers are a rambling stream of consciousness, full of typographic and grammatical errors, misstatements of law and, at various points, almost incomprehensible. Thus, "plaintiff failed to meet [his] burden of demonstrating the existence of a factual issue requiring the trial of the action ... The plaintiff's opposing papers consisted almost entirely of conclusory statements or unsubstantiated allegations regarding legal malpractice and fraud, which do not constitute sufficient proof to defeat the motion for summary judgment." (Wilkerson v. Buonomo & Thaler, 199 A.D.2d 260, 260-261 [2d Dept 1993] ).
The first cause of action is a hybrid claim for negligence, alleging that SCHECHTER advised plaintiff BREYTMAN not to file related pro se actions, and for breach of a contract by claiming that SCHECHTER violated the retainer agreement by requesting that plaintiff pay for his psychological evaluation. SCHECHTER was not negligent in his representation of plaintiff in the underlying actions and with respect to his advice to plaintiff regarding the commencement of additional pro se lawsuits against the landlord. As noted above, in Rosner v. Paley and Ideal Steel Supply Corp. v. Beil, an attorney cannot be held liable for exercising discretion during litigation. "Attorneys may select among reasonable courses of action in prosecuting their clients' cases without thereby committing malpractice (see Rosner v. Paley, 65 N.Y.2d 736, 738)." ( Palazzolo v. Herrick, Feinstein, LLP, 298 A.D.2d 372 [2d Dept 2002]. "A purported malpractice claim that amounts only to a client's criticism of counsel's strategy may be dismissed." (Dweck Law Firm, LLP v. Mann, 283 A.D.2d 292 [1d Dept 2001] ). Plaintiff's breach of contract element in the first cause of action fails. The retainer agreement is clear. By its terms plaintiff BREYTMAN was paying SCHECHTER for legal services only. It did not indicate that the money which plaintiff paid SCHECHTER was to be used for the fees of experts. Therefore, plaintiff's first cause of action is dismissed.
The second cause of action also sounds in negligence. Plaintiff alleges again that SCHECHTER failed to return to plaintiff the file and failed to assert civil rights claims against the landlord. This claim lacks merit. SCHECHTER provided plaintiff with a complete copy of the file he maintained while representing plaintiff. Plaintiff failed to identify a single document which SCHECHTER had not produced for him. SCHECHTER's alleged failure to assert civil rights claims against the landlord was done in SCHECHTER's exercise of discretionary judgment during the course of litigation and SCHECHTER is not liable for this. (See Rosner v. Paley; Ideal Steel Supply Corp. v. Beil; Palazzolo v. Herrick, Feinstein, LLP; Dweck Law Firm, LLP v. Mann ). Therefore, plaintiff's second cause of action is dismissed.
The third cause of action alleges fraud, claiming that SCHECHTER "split the money" with the psychologist and took the case despite not being able to prove malice to support false arrest and malicious prosecution. SCHECHTER points out, in ¶ 42 of his affidavit in support of the motion, that plaintiff drew a check to the order of the examining psychologist and denies splitting any fee with the psychologist. With respect to malice, SCHECHTER, also in ¶ 42 of his affidavit in support of the motion, concludes that there was more than adequate evidence to establish malice needed to support the false arrest and malicious prosecution claims, including that plaintiff was a tenant organizer and had taken the landlord to court on numerous prior occasions. "The actual malice' element of a malicious prosecution action does not require a plaintiff to prove that the defendant was motivated by spite or hatred ... Rather, it means that the defendant must have commenced the prior criminal proceeding due to a wrong or improper motive, something other than a desire to see the ends of justice served." (Nardelli v. Stamberg, 44 N.Y.2d 500, 502-503 [1978] ). In plaintiff's criminal action, the Bronx County District Attorney had the action dismissed because it could not meet its burden of proof. This gives rise to an inference of malice. (See Fortunato v. City of New York, 63 AD3d 880 [2d Dept 2009] ). Therefore, plaintiff's third cause of action is dismissed.
The fourth cause of action, also sounds in negligence, alleging that SCHECHTER committed negligence by stipulating with landlord's counsel to allow the landlord to file a late answer and also stipulating to allow landlord's summary judgment motion to be heard on the same day as the motion for consolidation. Allowing a defendant to serve a late answer after a de minimus delay is not a departure from the standard of care of a reasonable attorney. It is good practice to avoid having defendant's insurance carrier disclaim for late notice. Also, stipulating to allowing two motions to be heard on the same day does not amount to a departure from the standard of care of a reasonably prudent attorney and did not prejudice plaintiff's actions. Therefore, plaintiff's fourth cause of action is dismissed.
The fifth cause of action alleges intentional infliction of emotional distress, claiming that SCHECHTER "went on a rampage in letters ... and in court with frivolous behavior with lies [¶ 64 of verified complaint]" which "cause me sever pain and suffering for physiological effects ... and causing me stress [sic] [¶ 68 of verified complaint]." SCHECHTER, in ¶ 46 of his affidavit in support of the motion, states "I did not in any way intend to inflict any emotional distress on plaintiff, and would like nothing more than to have no further contact with him." Further, SCHECHTER notes that when he filed an affirmation in support of being relieved, "I was careful not to divulge information which would be harmful to plaintiff or his case." Plaintiff failed to identify any conduct which comes even close to the requirements of an intentional infliction of emotional distress claim. Liability for intentional infliction of emotional distress requires plaintiff to identify conduct by defendants that "has been so outrageous in character, and so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regarded as atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community." (Howell v. New York Post Co., Inc., 81 N.Y.2d 115, 122 [1993], quoting Murphy v. American Home Products Corp., 58 N.Y.2d 293, 303 [1983] ). Plaintiff failed to allege outrageous and extreme conduct by SCHECHTER that could be "utterly intolerable in a civilized community." Therefore, plaintiff's fifth cause of action is dismissed.
The sixth cause of action asserts that SCHECHTER violated plaintiff's civil rights by not providing plaintiff with his original file, including an allegation that the December 12, 2008 OSC violated "my civil right to my property [¶ 72 of verified complaint]." As noted before, SCHECHTER provided plaintiff with a complete copy of his file. Therefore, plaintiff's sixth cause of action is dismissed.
The seventh cause of action alleges slander, claiming that SCHECHTER defamed plaintiff in the December 12, 2008 OSC and in oral arguments on the OSC. In plaintiff's verified complaint, it is unclear as to what plaintiff is claiming was allegedly slanderous. However, even if SCHECHTER made a slanderous statement in his written OSC or oral arguments on the OSC, the statements are absolutely privileged. "[A] statement made in open court in the course of a judicial proceeding, is absolutely privileged if, by any view or under any circumstances, it may be considered pertinent to the litigation." (Martirano v. Frost, 25 N.Y.2d 505, 507 [1969] ). (See Impallomeni v. Meiselman, Farber, Packman & Eberz, P.C., 272 A.D.2d 579, 580 [2d Dept 2000]; Goldfeder v. Weiss, 250 A.D.2d 731 [2d Dept 1998]; Fabrizio v. Spencer, 248 A.D.2d 351 [2d Dept 1998] ). Therefore, plaintiff's seventh cause of action is dismissed.
The eighth cause of action alleges discrimination because plaintiff is Jewish and SCHECHTER's "tyrannical rant are identical to Gabble antiseptic rants against Jew in Germany [sic] [¶ 87 of verified complaint]." The Court assumes that plaintiff meant to state "Goebbels anti-Semitic rants," referring to Hitler's Minister of Propaganda. SCHECHTER, in ¶ 49 of his affidavit in support of the motion, states "I am not sure what plaintiff is referring to, as I did not make any discriminatory remarks to him. I also note that I am Jewish myself and also of Russian descent." This cause of action fails to identify any basis for discrimination other than plaintiff's claim, in ¶ 87 of the verified complaint, that SCHECHTER is from Austria and "Hitler is from Austria as well. That is racism at it best and that is exactly what fascist did [sic]." Even if SCHECHTER is of Austrian descent, to claim that all Austrians are racists and fascists because Hitler was an Austrian, demonstrates racism and prejudice by plaintiff BREYTMAN, not by SCHECHTER. Therefore, plaintiff's eighth cause of action is dismissed.
It is clear that plaintiff BREYTMAN blames SCHECHTER for his own shortcomings and failure to prevail against the City and plaintiff's former landlord. It was plaintiff BREYTMAN's decision to terminate SCHECHTER and live with the consequences. Plaintiff BREYTMAN, in his obsessive crusade against the City, his former landlord and SCHECHTER, should have heeded the famous admonition given by Cassius to Brutus, in Act I, Scene Two of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves.
Plaintiff precluded from relitigation of the same claims
The Court is concerned that plaintiff BREYTMAN continues to use the scarce resources of the New York State Unified Court System to fruitlessly pursue the same claims. He is no stranger to litigation in Supreme Court, Kings County, Civil Term. The Court should not have to expend resources on the next action by Mr. Breytman that will be a new variation on the same theme of defendants' alleged misdeeds and misconduct. The continued use of the New York State Unified Court System for Mr. Breytman's scorched earth policy against defendants must cease.
Our courts have an interest in preventing the waste of judicial resources by a party who knows that his or lawsuit has no legitimate basis in law or fact and continues to attempt to relitigate resolved claims and issues. (Martin-Trigona v. Capital Cities/ABC, Inc., 145 Misc.2d 405 [Sup Ct, New York County 1989] ). The Court, in Sassower v. Signorelli (99 A.D.2d 358, 359 [2d Dept 1984] ), noted that "public policy mandates free access to the courts ... and, ordinarily, the doctrine of former adjudication will serve as an adequate remedy against repetitious suits." Then, the Sassower Court observed, in the next paragraph, that: "[n]onetheless, a litigious plaintiff pressing a frivolous claim can be extremely costly to the defendant and can waste an inordinate amount of court time, time that this court and the trial courts can ill afford to lose (see Harrelson v. United States, 613 F.2d 114). Thus, when, as here, a litigant is abusing the judicial process by hagriding individuals solely out of ill will or spite, equity may enjoin such vexatious litigation [emphasis added ]."
The instant action, "without the prior written permission of the Court," violates Justice Lewis' February 25, 2009 order, in Kings County, Supreme Court Index No. 2423/06, ALEXANDER BREYTMAN v. OLINVILLE REALTY LLC and WEINER REALTY. Further, nowhere in plaintiff BREYTMAN's opposition papers does he deny sending the extremely offensive letter to SCHECHTER, attached to defendants' motion for summary judgment as exhibit N. Moreover, plaintiff BREYTMAN, despite Court directives, served his opposition papers directly upon SCHECHTER. Plaintiff BREYTMAN's abusive conduct toward SCHECHTER must cease. Pro se litigants whom abuse judicial process have had their access to the courts limited. In Spremo v. Babchik (155 Misc.2d 796 (Sup Ct, Queens County 1996] ), the Court, in enjoining a pro se litigant from instituting any further actions and proceedings in any court in the New York State Unified Court System, cited Sassower and Kane v.. City of New York, 468 F Supp 586 [SD N.Y.1979], affd 614 F.2d 1288 [2d Cir1979] ). The Kane Court, at 592, held:
The fact that one appears pro se is not a license to abuse the process of the Court and to use it without restraint as a weapon of harassment and libelous bombardment. The injunction herein ordered is fully warranted to put an end to such activity ... Commencement of action upon action based on the same facts dressed in different garb, after thrice being rejected on the merits and having been repeatedly warned that the claims were barred by res judicata, can only be explained as malicious conduct.
In Muka v. New York State Bar Association (120 Misc.2d 897 [Sup Ct, Tompkins County 1983] ), a pro se plaintiff commenced a fourth unsuccessful lawsuit against the State Bar Association upon various conspiracy theories. The Court in dismissing the action, based upon res judicata, observed, at 903, that "all litigants have a right to impartial and considered justice. Insofar as any litigant unnecessarily consumes inordinate amounts of judicial time and energy, he or she deprives other litigants of their proper share of these resources. A balance must be kept." Therefore, Mr. Breytman, with his history of abusing the civil justice system, by bringing pro se actions devoid of merit against various defendants and continuing to attempt to obtain his original file in the actions against the City of New York and his former landlord from SCHECHTER, is precluded from relitigating the same claims and issues which waste court resources and is enjoined from bringing any future actions in the New York State Unified Court System against DONALD SCHECHTER and DONALD SCHECHTER, P.C., without the prior approval of the appropriate Administrative Justice or Judge. The Court instructed, in Vogelgesang v. Vogelgesang (71 AD3d 1132, 1134 [2d Dept 2010], that:
The Supreme Court providently exercised its discretion in enjoining the appellant from filing any further actions or motions in the ... action without prior written approval. Public policy generally mandates free access to the courts (see Sassower v. Signorelli, 99 A.D.2d 358, 359 [1984] ). However, a party may forfeit that right if he or she abuses the judicial process by engaging in meritless litigation motivated by spite or ill will (see Duffy v. Holt-Harris, 260 A.D.2d 595 [2d Dept 1999]; Shreve v. Shreve, 229 A.D.2d 1005 [2d Dept 1996] ). There is ample basis in this record to support the Supreme Court's determination to prevent the appellant from engaging in further vexatious litigation. (See Capogrosso v. Kansas, 60 AD3d 522 [1d Dept 2009]; Simpson v. Ptaszynska, 41 AD3d 607 [2d Dept 2007]; Pignataro v. Davis, 8 AD3d 487 [2d Dept 2004]; Cangro v. Cangro, 288 A.D.2d 417 [2d Dept 2001]; Mancini v. Mancini, 269 A.D.2d 366 [2d Dept 2000]; Braten v. Finkelstein, 235 A.D.2d 513 [2d Dept 1997] ).
Conclusion
Accordingly, it is
ORDERED, that the motion of defendants DONALD SCHECHTER and DONALD SCHECHTER, P.C., for summary judgment and dismissal of plaintiff ALEXANDER BREYTMAN's complaint, pursuant to CPLR Rule 3212(a), is granted; and it is further
ORDERED, that the instant complaint is dismissed with prejudice; and it is further
ORDERED, the cross-motion of plaintiff ALEXANDER BREYTMAN, for a sanction of $10,000.00 against defendants DONALD SCHECHTER and DONALD SCHECHTER, P.C., pursuant to 22 NYCRR § 130-1.1, is denied; and it is further
ORDERED, that plaintiff ALEXANDER BREYTMAN is hereby enjoined from commencing any future actions in the New York State Unified Court System against DONALD SCHECHTER and DONALD SCHECHTER, P.C., without the prior approval of the appropriate Administrative Justice or Judge; and it is further
ORDERED, that any violation of the above injunction by ALEXANDER BREYTMAN will subject ALEXANDER BREYTMAN to costs, sanctions and contempt proceedings.
This constitutes the decision and order of the Court.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Attorney)
An 11-year-old Bronx boy died on the morning of Wednesday February 16, 2011 after he was struck by a car while he tried to cross the Grand Concourse on his way to buy milk for his family, police and witnesses said.
Russell Smith was crossing the busy street at 7:47 a.m. near the corner of East 183rd Street in the Tremont section when he was struck by a grey Honda.
Smith was taken to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The boy's mother Monique Mitchell, 32, said, "I don't know what I'm going to do. He was a good kid, a smart kid. He had a lot of friends. Everybody loved him. He had a big heart."
His mother said in an exclusive television interview with NY1 that the family is "destroyed" by the incident.
Witnesses said Smith, a fifth-grader at nearby PS 9, was hit by the car's rearview mirror as he tried to cross a red light.
His family said Smith was on his way to a grocery store to buy milk for his infant brother.
"His body was broken, his head was smashed in, his front lip was split and his teeth was crushed," said Mitchell. "That was my boy."
"He's so close to his sister, his six-year-old sister, they're close. I don't know what's going to happen," said Mitchell as she was visibly upset. "I don't know how my kids are going to take it. He's got a six-year-old brother that's destroyed right now, and I'm trying to be strong for the rest of them. Oh god, this is so terrible."
Neighbors say that intersection is very dangerous, and that a 12-year-old girl was killed by a driver at the same intersection in 2005.
The boy's mother says he feared crossing the Grand Concourse and would often use a nearby subway station to cross underneath the street and come up on the other side to avoid the cars.
"This is my baby, and he's 10, so it's really hard for me. It's just really hard for me. I saw the aftermath," said eyewitness Michelle Jackson. "I didn't see him get hit, but I saw him there on the road. He was lifeless, there was no movement."
City motorcycle deaths on rise
There's no easy riding on the streets of New York.
Thirty-nine people died on motorcycles in the five boroughs in 2010, an increase of 10 -- or 34 percent -- over 2009's tally, the city Department of Transportation said.
Motorcycles account for 14 percent of all traffic fatalities in New York, although they make up just 2 percent of motor-vehicle registrations.
Motorcyclists are 18 times more likely to be killed in crashes than people in cars, buses or trucks. Speeding is a factor in 46 percent of motorcycle crashes, the city says.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Attorney)
Cuban immigrant dies after crashing car into hospital parking lot, cops told to wait for ambulance:
A man who suffered a heart attack and crashed his car just steps from an emergency room entrance waited nearly half an hour before an ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital, where he later died.
Birgilio Marin-Fuentes, a 61-year-old Cuban immigrant living in Portland, Ore., smashed his car into a steel pillar early Thursday morning while racing to the hospital after suffering a coughing fit in the middle of the night.
About 20 minutes after the crash, cops arrived on the scene and tried to save Marin-Fuentes. When one officer went to the emergency room for assistance, he was told he had to call for an
ambulance, police said.
"They left him to die," Marin-Funetes' wife, Claudia Luis Garcia, told The Oregonian.
The car wash worker was eventually wheeled into the hospital, but died on a gurney a short while
later.
"I don't know what else we could do," Portland Police Sgt. Debbie Steigleger told The Oregonian.
"With an automobile accident you don't know if the patient needs to be extricated or transported," hospital spokeswoman Judy Leach said. "There are protocols in place to ensure the right thing is done for the right patient at the right time."
Oregon Rep. Early Blumenauer has called for a federal probe of the hospital.
"It is not just heartbreaking, but incomprehensible that a hospital fully capable of treating this medical emergency left police officers with no medical equipment to tend to a patient," Blumenauer said. "If the police statements are correct, this incident defies common sense and it may well defy federal law."
Marin-Fuentes' wife mourns his loss.
---------------
Nearly two dozen club hoppers were injured after an out-of-control cabbie plowed into a crowd outside a San Diego nightclub after closing time early Saturday, cops said.
Police said the cabbie told them that he blacked out before veering off the road and crashing into the Singaree club in San Diego's trendy Gaslamp district.
Fire officials said 23 people were taken to the hospital and one woman had to have her leg amputated below the knee after the car pinned her against a wall.
Dozens more suffered scrapes and bruises, including the cabbie, who was attacked by an angry mob after the crash and suffered a broken nose, police said.
Clubgoers said it was typical for people to hang out outside the club after closing time, but the scene quickly became chaotic after the taxi jumped the curb and rolled over people.
"We saw a girl crying and we saw a female with a tooth missing, bloodied up and crying," clubhopper Jerel Duncan told San Diego's KSWB-TV. "We were like, what's going on? It was just hysteria, crazy and then we saw the actual cab on the curb."
Police said the 48-year-old driver, who was not named, may have fallen asleep. They don't think alcohol was a factor.
More than 60 cops, medics and firefighters arrived at the scene, which had erupted into a late night melee.
As many as 100 people swarmed the area after the crash, police said, and an angry mob pounded on the cab and dragged the dazed driver out of the car when he tried to back his vehicle away from the building.
Stingaree owner James Brennan told the San Diego Union-Tribune that during the scuffle, the frightened driver grabbed a pair of scissors and swung them at one of the club managers.
San Diego Police spokesman Lt. Todd Jarvis told the Tribune the cabbie was going about 15 mph at the time of the crash.
At one point, crews had to clear victims from the scene after officers spotted what they thought could be a bomb inside the taxi.
Jarvis told the Tribune that officers were concerned when they saw a bag with wires coming out of it on the seat of the taxi, but it turned out to be a massager.
Investigators said they were treating the incident as an accident and had not pressed charges against the driver.
The club was reopened on Saturday night.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Attorney)
A Rosedale pastor is recovering at a Long Island hospital and the authorities were hard at work on Tuesday February 8, 2011, searching for the suspected hit-and-run driver who put him there.
The Rev. Aubrey Bougher, the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Of Christ, suffered four broken ribs and an injured pelvis after he was struck by a pickup truck at the intersection of Sunrise Highway and Francis Lewis Boulevard around midnight Saturday, police said. The pastor was walking back from the Rosedale Long Island Rail Road station after attending a concert at Carnegie Hall, the church said.
The driver kept going and was never seen again, but several pedestrians came to the aid of Bougher and got him off the street until the ambulance came to take him to Franklin Hospital, according to parishioner, Isabelle Coles-Dunbar. "God interceded because people came in and helped," she said. "That intersection is dangerous and he could have been hit again."
No arrests had been made as of press time Tuesday, but one of the good Samaritans was able to spot the car as it drove off, according to a police source.
"We do have a plate and the detectives are on the case," the source said. In the meantime, the church, located at 248-01 Francis Lewis Blvd., is continuing to offer its religious services and keep spirits up in Bougher's absence. The Sunday masses were held in his honor and went off without a hitch, according to Coles-Dunbar. "He's an organized person so he was able to instruct us on what to do to get a replacement for services on Sunday," she said.
The pastor has been in good spirits, according to parishioners, and recovering well at his hospital bed. Parishioner Paul Mader said Boughner was listed in stable condition and may need a hip replacement for his injuries. It was not known when he would be released. Bougher joined the parish in 1981 and has been active in the church community.
Aside from his duties behind the pulpit, parishioners said he works with the youth in the neighborhood and serves as a chaplain for the Rosedale Civic Association. "Right now [the parishioners] are very upset," Herbert Dunbar said of the accident. "He's a very energetic guy and very popular."
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Attorney)
An elderly woman died Friday morning, Friday, February 11, 2011, after a fire broke out on the second floor of the four-story apartment building run by the New York City Housing Authority.
A second elderly women was in critical condition after fire officials said a three-alarm blaze started at 6:03 a.m on the second floor of 1142 Lenox Road in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Three residents were taken to the hospital, two with serious injuries. One of the fire victims, a 70-year-old woman, was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The woman who died in the fire was not identified.
It took about 130 firefighters an hour to bring the fire under control.
Seven firefighters also suffered minor injuries when a floor collapsed beneath them.
Residents were rescued from fire escapes and the roof.
"We had to force entry. We had to bring people out from ladders, off the roof, from our buckets, off the fire escape. We had to remove a lot of people," said FDNY Deputy Chief Stephen Moro. "There was smoke throughout the whole building. Heavy fire on two floors with extension to the top floor."
"We couldn't make it through the front door so we just went to the fire escape. There was smoke everywhere," said one building resident.
"We realized it was a fire and I got my family members and we got out the building," said another. "When we got down to the lobby, the whole building was full of black smoke."
The Red Cross is assisting about 50 people who have been left out in the cold. At least four units of the building were left completely uninhabitable by the blaze.
It's unclear what sparked the flames, but some residents said that heating in the building had been very low and so they had begun using space heaters. The FDNY said a space heater left on overnight near a curtain was the cause of the blaze.
Comment: I've blogged before this winter about fires caused by space heaters in buildings with little heat.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Lawyer)
Claudia Aderotimi complained of chest pains and shortness of breath sometime after she underwent a backroom buttock enhancement procedure at a hotel room in Philadelphia on Monday, February 7, 2011. She later died.
The British woman who died after having a back-room buttock-enhancement procedure in a Philadelphia hotel was an aspiring hip-hop vixen who was told a bigger booty would make her a star.
Claudia Aderotimi, 20, was a dancer and a choreographer with "a drive to be famous," a heartbroken pal told the U.K.'s Sun newspaper, and had impressed talent scouts after she wore butt-padded pants to a rap-music video audition.
Aderotimi, who sometimes spelled her name Claudiya and used the stage names "Carmella ames" and "Carmella London," had once boasted on a British website for wanna-be celebs that "Superstar is my middle name," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
But after scouts discovered her posterior was a fake, her phone stopped ringing, talent scout and friend Tee Ali told the Sun.
"She thought if she had a big booty, she would have been in better videos and been more famous," Ali said.
Aderotimi flew from London to Philadelphia with three other women on Saturday and checked into a Hampton Inn near Philadelphia International Airport .
She and another woman paid more than $1,000 to receive injections to plump their rears. Aderotimi was rushed to the hospital at 1:30 a.m. Monday after complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath, police said, and died later that day.
Early reports said Aderotimi died after silicone from the shots seeped into her bloodstream and caused a heart attack or coronary embolism.
But Delaware County Medical Examiner Fredric Hellman said Wednesday that a preliminary cause of death wouldn't be known until further testing was completed.
Liquid silicone is commonly used in back-room breast and butt-enhancement procedures, as are
paraffin, petroleum jelly and hydrogel. Injections using these agents are not approved by
the Food and Drug Administration.
Aderotimi's friend also received shots in her butt and hips, but did not get sick, police said.
No arrests have been made in the case, but police were questioning a woman in New Jersey who is suspected of setting up the appointment for Aderotimi and the other woman, Philadelphia Police Lt. Ray Evers said Wednesday.
Cops are also hunting for a second woman, who, they said, performed the procedure.
In recent years, similar cases involving women dying or suffering health problems after receiving
illegal cosmetic injections have been reported in New York, New Jersey and Los Angeles.
Many of the victims come from abroad after being lured by Internet ads promising cheap, safe and quick procedures, experts said.
In the U.S., big bums are all the rage as women aspire to achieve the curves of celebs like Kim
Kardashian, Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj, and websites and chat forums where users trade butt-
enhancement tips have become increasingly popular.
On one chat forum hosted on Topix.com, a user from Los Angeles wrote, "It's like the biggest thing in California now! Girls are all going in for butt jobs so they can look like Kim Kardashian. Some plastic surgeons have special packages now where you can get both your boobs and your butt done for a reduced price!"
Friends and family who gathered at Aderotimi's home in East London on Wednesday night said they were devastated she had gone to such lengths to achieve her dream.
"Claudia was a really pretty girl. I don't know why she felt she had to have the treatment," a 17-year-old neighbor who did not want to be named told The Mirror. "It's such a waste."
Comment: All too common, in immigrant communities especially. People try to save money and go with unlicensed people who inject them with "who knows what"? And people die.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Lawyer)
A hardworking West African immigrant who never met his newborn daughter was crushed to death on Saturday, February 5, 2011, in the Bronx, after a pickup truck he was trying to ship home fell on top of him, authorities and witnesses said.
Abdul Barry, who had a wife and two young daughters -- 11 years old and one month -- back in Guinea, worked seven days a week selling T-shirts and socks in Harlem to send money back to his family.
"It was very difficult for him," said his uncle, Bouba Barry. "He would like to see his family, he missed them."
The victim was standing inside a metal shipping container affixed to a flat bed truck on Drake Street near Randall Avenue in Hunts Point at around 3:40 p.m. when tragedy struck.
Barry, 49, of The Bronx, was moving the Toyota from the rear to the front of the rented container when a chain supporting the truck snapped and the truck landed on him, said his uncle, who was helping out.
"He wasn't saying anything, he was moaning."
The uncle sprang into action, trying to lift the nearly two-ton vehicle off his nephew before dashing outside to look for help.
"I got people to help me to call 911," he said.
Then he ran back to comfort his dying nephew, who moved to the United States six years ago.
"I touched him and he was not saying anything.
"His eyes were closed."
Emergency responders were on scene within minutes, but Barry, who last saw his family three months ago, was already dead.
His brother and friends rushed to the site.
"I feel very sorry for him, he was an honest man," said pal Mamdou Sow.
Another friend, Ousmane Bah said, "He's a very good guy -- worked seven days a week. He was looking for a better life."
Fiery nightmares
Raging fires ripped through several homes in The Bronx and Brooklyn on Monday, February 7, 2011, leaving two elderly women dead and more than a dozen other people injured, officials said.
Beloved retired schoolteacher Mary Mullen, 82, died in one of the blazes, which broke out shortly after 2:30 a.m. in her apartment building on Valentine Avenue in Fordham Manor in The Bronx.
Officials gave no immediate cause for the blaze.
Neighbors described the religious Mullen as a hoarder whose clutter in her third-floor home may have been a fire hazard.
"She saved fliers from every church she had ever been to," said the building's manager, Maria Pimentel.
"I helped her move apartments just to give her a clean start. I wouldn't find one broken umbrella. I'd find five. She said, 'When I was growing up, I didn't have anything.' "
Sixty firefighters put out the blaze in less than 30 minutes.
Three hours later and eight blocks away, firefighters raced to a building on North Street in University Heights, where flames tore through another third-floor apartment.
Firefighters removed 86-year-old resident Janet O'Shea from the apartment, but she was already dead.
Neighbors said O'Shea lived by herself, although a home health aide visited on occasion.
She used a walker, they added, so it might have been difficult for her to get out in time.
"I heard a woman screaming," said Natividad Santos, who lives on the fifth floor. "She was saying, 'I'm scared, I'm scared.' "
Last night, a fast-moving inferno tore through an apartment building on MacDougal Street in Brownsville, Brooklyn -- leaving 15 people treated for smoke inhalation and some trapped residents jumping from the fire escapes.
"When we opened the door, there was too much smoke," said 15-year-old Chere Baird, who lives on the second floor.
Her uncle ran through the blinding smoke to get outside, where he called out to a terrified Chere to jump into his arms from the fire escape. She did, and was not injured.
The fire started at around 9:15 p.m. on the first floor.
None of the victims was badly injured.
Earlier in Brooklyn, a fourth fire gutted a shuttered bakery and spread to several upstairs apartments and two adjoining buildings in Greenpoint.
The blaze broke out on Conselyea Street near Union Avenue at about 12:30 p.m.
Two firefighters were hospitalized with minor injuries. A third suffered more serious, unspecified injuries, officials said.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Attorney)
Two construction workers were killed earlier today (February 8, 2011) in Manhattan after falling about 65 feet from an Upper West Side building.
Fire officials say the men were working on top of an elevator shaft on the seventh floor of 150 West 83rd Street when they fell - landing on scaffolding on the third floor.
Officials at the scene are investigating what caused the fall. "The two workers that were with the victims, they were all iron workers, there were four of them, two of them fell down the shaft," said FDNY Deputy Chief Michael Mullins. "They're giving a statement to the police department right now at the precinct. I don't know if they slipped, something gave way."
EMTs struggled to revive both men at the scene before they were rushed to separate hospitals.
A 49-year-old worker was declared dead at Roosevelt Hospital, and a 51-year-old worker was declared dead at St. Luke's Hospital. Both worked for Weir Welding and Cross County Erectors.
Redeemer Church, the building's owner, says it immediately reported the incident to the Department of Buildings and is fully cooperating with its investigation. Redeemer, which is based in Midtown, is expanding its ministry by constructing a five-story building on the former site of a parking garage. Construction has been underway on the estimated $6.2 million project since late 2009. Redeemer bought the property in October 2008.
The New York City Police Department says no criminality is suspected at this time.
Comment: We have no indication if scaffold collapsed or some other safety or protective device failed or was not utilized.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Attorney)
Police sources say a driver involved in a hit-and-run accident that killed an elderly woman in Bath Beach, Brooklyn on Saturday morning, February 5, 2011, has been charged with vehicular manslaughter and other charges.
Mario Vasquez, a 52-year-old Brooklyn resident, will also face charges of reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of crime with a fatality, unauthorized use of a vehicle, driving a motor vehicle without a license and driving while intoxicated, according to police sources.
Maria Prikul, 80, and another woman were walking near Bath Avenue and 18th Avenue at around 10:15 a.m. Saturday when they were struck by a Chevy van, according to police.
The van kept on going and eyewitnesses say Prikul was dragged an entire block.
One good Samaritan said, "I looked at her face, but she was already dead. Her clothes were ripped. There was blood in her mouth."
The driver was apprehended by neighbors a few blocks away.
"She was underneath the minivan and the front right tire. The van pushed her one block, from 18th Avenue to Bay 17th," said an eyewitness.
Prikul was transported to Lutheran Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The other woman was hospitalized with an injured foot, but was expected to be okay.
Prikul's daughter, Rita Shulman, said she had been suffering from lung cancer. "Last night, when I talked to her, I told her not to go out," Shulman said. "I'm still shocked." Prikul lived on her own at the Bath Beach senior housing complex. At least one other woman was killed by a hit and run driver in the city yesterday, and all signs point to hit and run in the case of Brooklyn biker Serena.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Lawyer)
A Nassau County police officer died on Friday, February 4, 2011 after his cruiser was hit by a flatbed truck during a routine traffic stop on the Long Island Expressway in New York's Nassau County.
Authorities identified the officer as 44-year-old Michael Califano. He had been on the force for 12 years.
The flatbed truck driver was charged today in Califano's death.
The officer had pulled a vehicle over near exit 39 in Old Westbury late Friday night and was sitting in his car with lights blinking when it was struck from behind shortly before 11 p.m., authorities said.
The impact propelled the cruiser under a stopped box truck, while the flatbed mounted the police vehicle's roof. The severely injured officer was freed from the wreckage with heavy cutting tools, including the Jaws of Life, but died hours later at a hospital.
Three other people suffered less serious injuries in the wreck, said Nassau County police Lt. Kevin Smith.
The wreck closed part of the expressway for hours overnight.
The flatbed truck driver, 25-year-old John Kaley of New Britain, Conn., was arraigned Saturday in Hempstead District Court on charges of criminally negligent homicide, third-degree assault and failing to move over for an emergency vehicle, police said. (See my recent blog on the one-month-old New York State Move Over Law.)
The injured included two people who were in the box truck and a female passenger in the flatbed truck. All were being treated at a hospital.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Lawyer)
A hit-and-run driver slammed into a disabled grandmother in East Harlem yesterday - and sped off with the mortally wounded woman's body splayed on his hood for two blocks, police said.
A limping Ilia Lopez, 58, was struck at E. 121st St. at Second Ave. about 4:05 a.m. by a dark sedan, cops said. There were more than a dozen horrified witnesses.
"The way he hit her, you could never hear her scream," said witness Marilyn Baretto. "It was a crash like two cars hit." With Lopez's body on his hood, the driver sped south and turned left on E. 120th St. It wasn't until the driver reached First Ave. that her body rolled off the car, cops said.
Lopez was crossing Second Avenue in front of the clinic when a black sedan that looked like a livery cab hit her head-on, witnesses said.
"He was going at more than 35 mph," said Eric Puello, 42, also a patient at the clinic.
Lopez was rushed to Harlem Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
"I'd like to get behind the wheel and do to him what he did to my wife," fumed Lopez's husband, Juan Rojas. "She was a good woman, a good mother and a good wife." "He just left her there as if she was a dog," said Rojas, who lived with her in the Norwood section of The Bronx.
"I'm sure the driver does not have a mother. That's how I feel," said Rojas, 77, who phoned Lopez's three grown children to tell them of the tragedy.
Lopez, a mother of three adult children from the Bronx, had trekked to Harlem to pick up methadone from a clinic close to the scene of the crash, her pals said. She had been crossing the street to retrieve a milk crate to sit on while she waited for Harlem East Life Plan's 6 a.m. opening.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Attorney)
A Brooklyn driver who opened the door of her parked car, forcing a bicyclist into a fatal crash with a bus, was was indicted on a felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident, according to a new indictment. Prosecutors upgraded charges yesterday.
Krystal Francis, whose license was suspended at the time, swung open the door of her car on Atlantic Avenue in Prospect Heights on Sept. 11, 2010, knocking into cyclist Jasmine Herron into the path of a B45 bus, which ran over and killed the Colorado native. I previously blogged about this accident on September 14, 2010.
Michael Baum, Francis' lawyer said his client called 911 from the scene, left briefly to get her mother, and returned to the scene to speak to police, where she was arrested. Her lawyer argued that Francis did not really leave the accident scene.
Baum cited a photo in The Post of Francis talking to cops as evidence his client had no intention of skipping out.
He also disputed the initial charge of driving with a suspended license since "the key was not in the ignition" at the time of the accident.
He said his client was "remorseful" about the mishap, but that it was a civil matter, not a crime.
"It was a tragic accident that never should have arisen to criminal charges," Baum said. "It's obvious she was at the scene," defense lawyer Michael Baum said after the hearing at Brooklyn Supreme Court hearing. "It was a tragic accident that should never have arisen to criminal charges."
Francis, of Staten Island, was already charged with driving with a suspended license, a misdemeanor. Francis was arraigned on the indictment today and remains free on bail until her next appearance in March.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Lawyer)
The drunk son of one Bernie Madoff's original investors was busted for smashing into a food deliveryman on a bicycle - and then trying to speed off on a Midtown street. The arrest took place on Saturday, January 29, 2011.
Clark Gettinger, 40, was behind the wheel of a 2001 Lexus sedan heading north on Eighth Ave. near W. 47th St. when he hit the bicyclist from behind at 10:15 p.m. Friday, January 28, 2011, police said.
The deliveryman, Ricardo Gonzalez, toppled from his bike and was then struck by a silver BMW hat was behind the Lexus, police said.
The Lexus rammed into the 28-year-old bike rider near 47th Street with an impact so violent that the cyclist's head knocked out the windshield on the passenger side. Gonzalez was bleeding heavily from the head as he lay unconscious in the street but Gettinger never slowed down, witnesses told police.
"I saw he had a lot of blood," said Paulo Gadoy, who works at a restaurant across the street.
Meanwhile, Gettinger continued up Eighth Avenue. When he got stuck in traffic at 50th Street, cops were able to surround the vehicle. Gettinger tried to flee on foot but was soon captured and placed under arrest. He's been charged with DWI, vehicular assault and leaving the scene of an accident. Gettinger, who lives just blocks from the accident scene, was awaiting arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court Saturday afternoon.
Gettinger is the son of the late Robert Gettinger, an investor who lost millions in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
Gonzalez, who lives in Inwood, was listed in critical condition at Bellevue Hospital.
"He was by the back tires under the gas tank," said witness Blake Kirschbaum, 29, a bouncer at a nearby bar. "He didn't look too well. He wasn't moving," he added.
Firefighters from Engine 54, which is only half a block away, came down the street to try to save the man.
"It took 15 minutes to get him out from under the car," Kirschbaum said.
Robert Gettinger, who died in July 2009, was one of Madoff's first investors, initially entrusting the con man with money in 1973.
When the notorious Ponzi scheme was exposed in late 2008, the elder Gettinger told the Wall Street Journal that he and Madoff had grown close and even attended bar mitzvahs for each other's sons.
Gettinger said Madoff misled him to believe that his investment had grown to $10 million, with a $3 million trust fund for Clark and his brother Scott.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Lawyer)
With accidents stemming from pedestrian distraction on the rise throughout the nation, Senator Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) has re-introduced legislation making it illegal to use an iPod, cell phone, Blackberry or any other electronic device while crossing the street.
If the new legislation is passed, people caught breaking the rule could face a court summons and be asked to pay a fine of $100.
The New York Times reports:
Many joggers don earbuds and listen to music to distract themselves from the rigors of running. But might the Black Eyed Peas or Rihanna distract them so much that they jog into traffic?
That is the theory of several lawmakers pushing the latest generation of legislation dealing with how devices like iPods and cellphones affect traffic safety. The ubiquity of interactive devices has propelled the science of distraction -- and now efforts to legislate against it -- out of the car and into the exercise routine.
In New York, a bill is pending in the legislature's transportation committee that would ban the use of mobile phones, iPods or other electronic devices while crossing streets -- runners and other exercisers included. Legislation pending in Oregon would restrict bicyclists from using mobile phones and music players, and a Virginia bill would keep such riders from using a "hand-held communication device."
In California, State Senator Joe Simitian, who led a successful fight to ban motorists from sending text messages and using hand-held phones, has reintroduced a bill that failed last year to fine bicyclists $20 for similar multitasking.
"The big thing has been distracted driving, but now it's moving into other ways technology can distract you, into everyday things," said Anne Teigen, a policy specialist for the National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks legislative developments.
Exercising in Central Park on Tuesday, Marie Wickham, 56, said she understood what all the fuss was about: "They're zigging, they're zagging, they don't know what's around them. It can definitely be dangerous."
But Ms. Wickham added that she would be opposed to any ban of such devices. "I think it's an infringement on personal rights," she said. "At some point, we need to take responsibility for our own stupidity."
Pedestrian fatalities increased slightly for the first time in four years in the first six months of 2010, according to a report released last week by the Governors Highway Safety Association, an organization based in Washington that represents state highway safety agencies.
Among the states, Arizona and Florida had the largest increases in pedestrian fatalities, followed by North Carolina, Oregon and Oklahoma. Nationally, pedestrian traffic fatalities had dropped to 4,091 in 2009 from 4,892 in 2005, the report stated.
"One of the reasons we think the trend may be turning negatively is because of distracted pedestrians," said Jonathan Adkins, spokesman for the safety group.
The New York bill was proposed by State Senator Carl Kruger, a Brooklyn Democrat who has grown alarmed by the amount of distraction he sees on the streets in his neighborhood and across New York City. Since September, Mr. Kruger wrote in the bill, three pedestrians have been killed and one was critically injured while crossing streets and listening to music through headphones.
"We're taught from knee-high to look in both directions, wait, listen and then cross," he said.
"You can perform none of those functions if you are engaged in some kind of wired activity."
Hal Pashler, a professor of cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego, said that listening to sounds through two earbuds creates a particularly powerful kind of "auditory masking" that drowns out external sounds. Such masking not only goes directly into the ear, it also is involuntary in the sense that the sound floods the brain even when a person tries to listen to something else -- say, traffic.
"It's even more overwhelming than the kind of muiltitasking costs we normally talk about," Mr. Pashler said.
As it is written, Mr. Kruger's proposal, which was first introduced in 2007, would apply only to cities with populations of one million or more. But Mr. Kruger would like to expand the bill to cover even smaller cities. Violators would face a civil summons and a $100 fine.
"This is not government interference," he said. "This is more like saying, 'You're doing something that could be detrimental to yourself and others around you.' "
But some outdoor exercisers who rely on music for a boost see the proposals as little more than a distraction for law enforcement officials. "Chasing down the runner who has his headphones in instead of chasing down the driver who's been at the local pub sounds like they're trying to pick the low-hanging fruit," said John Wiant, 43, a runner from Newport Beach, Calif.
In Arkansas, an avalanche of criticism on Tuesday led a legislator to withdraw a proposal that would have banned pedestrians from wearing headphones in both ears. Other lawmakers have tried to strike some sort of balance between public safety and the gravity of the offense.
In California, Mr. Simitian is proposing the $20 fine on bicyclists who send text messages and a $30 increase on the existing $20 penalty for doing the same activity while driving a car, a difference that he said reflects the relative risk the behavior poses to others.
"At some point," he said, "you do have to simply rely on the good judgment of folks as they go through their daily lives."
Mr. Simitian added that he believed that efforts to legislate against distraction outside the car could diminish the seriousness of hard-fought campaigns and laws meant to curb distracted driving.
"Is there a problem out there with distracted pedestrians? I'd be the first to acknowledge it," he said. But, he added, "It's appropriate to distinguish between 4,000 pounds of steel and glass coming at you and a pedestrian who may well put themselves at risk but probably poses less of a risk to the general public."
Gary comments: Do we really need a law to protect us from our own stupidity? Maybe bicycle riders shouldn't be allowed to wear earphones, but street-crossers? Especially for fat guys like me, who don't jog but just power walk with earphones in. This seems ridiculous. What next? Maybe the bottle of water I carry could be a weapon? Senator Kruger's proposed law is dumb, dumb, dumb.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Attorney) `
Bus flips over in Brooklyn and injures children
Three children were injured when the mini-school bus they were traveling in flipped on its side after it was rear-ended this afternoon in Brooklyn, authorities said.
The bus, which was carrying the three kids and two adults, was driving on Stone Avenue near Bergen Street when a car behind it ran a stop sign and slammed into it at 4:30 p.m.
An employee of a nearby dollar store rushed over to pull out the hurt bus passengers.
"I pulled out three kids -- they were crying and traumatized," said the worker, Henry Pacheco, 33. "They kept calling for me to get them out."
Two other people in the car also were hurt.
The injured victims were taken to both Brookdale Hospital and Kings County Hospital in stable condition, cops said.
Manhattan Woman struck & killed by garbage truck
A woman walking on the Upper East Side Monday this evening (January 24, 2011) was struck with such force by a garbage truck that her body was cut in half, authorities said.
The woman, whose identity is not yet known, was on 1st Avenue between 90th and 91st streets around 5:45 p.m. when the private sanitation truck slammed into her, sources said.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are still investigating the accident but said the driver of the truck remained at the scene.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Attorney)
Juan Baten, a 22-year-old Brooklyn worker from Guatamala, was killed early Monday, January 24, 2011, after falling into a dough mixer at a tortilla factory, police said.
The freak accident happened at Tortilleria Chinantla in Williamsburg at 2:30 a.m. when Baten tried to retrieve an item after dropping it inside the waist-high machine, investigators said.
Cops say security video from the plant shows the victim reaching into the mixer, as if to grab
something, and being sucked in, police said.
Investigators believe the turbine mixer instantly sucked Baten in and broke his neck.
Baten was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said there is no criminality.
No prior violations have been found as of yet at the site, but the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident, according to an OSHA spokesperson.
"I'm still in shock," Baten's common-law wife, Rosario Ramirez, 23, told the New York Daily News. "I got a call at 2:30 a.m. They told me he fell into the machine."
At the couple's tiny studio apartment in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Monday afternoon, candles burned on either side of a framed picture of Baten and Ramirez and their 7-month-old daughter, Daisy Stefanie.
Fighting back tears as she spoke, Ramirez recalled how her husband was raised in a small Guatemalan village and came to America six years ago.
She said he had been working at the factory without legal documents. He earned minimum wage, but worked long hours so he could support their budding family.
"He worked six days a week, nine hours a day," she said. "He didn't complain; he liked his job."
"He did everything so we could have a better life," she added, noting she plans to bury him in his
homeland.
A fellow worker called 911 after the accident, but Baten was dead by the time emergency responders arrived, police said.
The company has been in business since 1992.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Lawyer)
The New York Jets won a big football game Sunday night, January 16, 2011, against the New England Patriots.
Raymond Larsen, age 46, was wearing a Jets jersey and watching the game with his girlfriend in Staten Island, New York. After the Jets victory, at about 9:00 PM he went outside his home to celebrate and decided to sled down his steep driveway on a plastic disc.
Larsen, who reportedly had been drinking, shot into the street and was struck and killed by a passing 2006 Hyundai S.U.V.
He was rushed to Staten Island University South, where he died from head trauma.
Two green saucer sleds lay near a pool of blood last night as cops questioned the teary-eyed driver.
"Its very sad, especially during the new year," said Larsen's neighbor Dennis Miglino, 57.
"He works a lot on his house. He was unbelievable when it came to Halloween decorations and Christmas decorations."
"He was a big Jets fan," Miglino added. "He was a nice guy."
The driver, a 61-year-old woman, passed a Breathalyzer test and was not charged with a crime.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Attorney)
I recently blogged about a Manhattan tenant, a senior citizen no less, who accidentally set herself on fire trying to keep warm in her apartment by running her kitchen oven and stove after her building lost heat. The only conclusion to draw is that heating an apartment with an oven and stove is a bad idea.
Some residents turn to space heaters when the weather turns cold. While these appliances are designed to provide heat to residential living areas, certain safety rules must be observed to prevent fire, burns, and even death.
Convection heaters can heat large areas and are installed with a blower or fan. Radiant heaters are generally used in smaller areas and even under desks. Some heaters are powered by electricity, while others run by flammable fuels such as oil or kerosene.
House fires can be caused by misuse of space heaters or by design or manufacturing defects. In order to protect your family and your home, follow the recommendations set forth below.
*DO NOT USE SPACE HEATERS AS THE ONLY MEANS TO HEAT YOUR HOME - Space heaters are not intended to be used as a substitute for your furnace, whether your furnace is a natural gas, oil or electric furnace. The proper use of an electric space heater is to add heat to a room in which adult residents are present.
*DO NOT ALLOW SMALL CHILDREN TO GO NEAR A SPACE HEATER - Babies and toddlers tend to crawl and walk toward space heaters because they are attracted to be glowing elements. Due to the tenderness of their skin, small children are more likely than adults to sustain second and third degree burns to their face.
*DO NOT LEAVE A SPACE HEATER UNATTENDED WHILE IT IS TURNED ON OR PLUGGED IN - Many house fires caused by space heaters occur after the person who plugged it in and turned it on leaves the room for an extended period of time or falls asleep.
*DO NOT PLACE THE SPACE HEATER CLOSE TO FLAMMABLE MATERIAL - Space heater fires often occur when items such as rugs, curtains, blankets and clothes are too close to the space heater. Most space heaters should not be within 3 feet of anything that can burn. The directions included with the space heater should give specific instructions on how and where to properly place the space heater.
*AVOID USING EXTENSION CORDS - Most electric space heaters have warning labels instructing the user not to use extension cords. If an extension cord is needed, it must be relatively new, in good condition and be rated by the Underwriters Laboratory at 16-gauge wire or thicker. Many house fires resulting from the use of a space heater occur when the extension cord ignites carpet, rugs or wood flooring.
*DO NOT USE KEROSENE OR OIL-BASED SPACE HEATERS INSIDE YOUR HOME - Every year, deaths and catastrophic injuries result from fires and carbon monoxide poisoning caused by kerosene or oil-based heaters that are placed inside homes, garages and other enclosed structures.
Over the years, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled dozens of heaters, both electric and oil-filled. One heater recall was as recent as July of this year.
Due to these tough economic times, there are many people having difficulty paying their heating bills. When their natural gas is disconnected or they run out of fuel oil, residents often use electric space heaters as the sole source for heating their home. BECAUSE THE RISK IS EXTREME, financially strained residents should contact the utility company before the source of their heating is disconnected. Most communities have local and state agencies, as well as charitable organizations, that can provide assistance.
In New York, before your utility company can shut off your service for nonpayment, or for any other reason other than an emergency, they must provide you with written notice of their intention to terminate. If the utility company knows that you receive some form of public assistance (including SSI), it must also notify the Human Resources Administration ("HRA") of the proposed termination, the amount of arrears and that payment has not been made. Notice to HRA must be sent three to five days before the proposed termination.
In a medical emergency or if a tenant has a life-threatening medical condition, special protections and rules apply before utilities can be shut off. Likeise if the resident is elderly, blind or disabled.
Many states have similar statutes to protect their citizens. Unfortunately, many people are unaware that assistance programs are available. To avoid the potentially tragic events that may occur with the use or misuse of space heaters, please share this information with your family, friends and neighbors.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Attorney)
Dwan Gonzalez, 44, was riding a Harley Davidson east on the Long Island Expressway in Rego Park., Queens County, when he was rear-ended by a Mercedes-Benz near Junction Blvd. at about 1 a.m., police said.
Gonzalez was thrown onto the hood of the white 2006 Mercedes Benz 350, rolled onto the windshield and tossed about 300 feet. Gonzalez died on the highway.
The Mercedes' driver, Shamel Campbell, 26, of Freeport, Long Island, fled the scene - but was later nabbed by cops near the Nassau County border, police said. He was allegedly driving with a suspended license.
Cops spotted Campbell's white Mercedes sedan - which had extensive front-end damage - at the
intersection of Francis Lewis Blvd. and 145th St. in Rosedale - more than 11 miles from the crash site, police said.
He tried to explain the damage by telling cops he hit a tree and a light pole, police sources said.
He was taken to the NYPD's 112th Precinct stationhouse, where he was booked for driving while intoxicated. His blood-alcohol level was 0.18, more than double the legal limit, the sources said.
He was also charged with leaving the scene of an accident and aggravated unlicensed operation,
police said.
In another accident just five minutes later, the driver of a 1991 Acura lost control of his vehicle on the Southern State Parkway near S. Conduit Ave. and struck a tree. The driver, a man in his 30s, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Attorney)
A cinder-block wall collapsed at a construction site in Queens on Monday morning, January 9, 2011, killing 26-year-old construction worker Huberto Sanchez of Queens and seriously injuring one of his brothers and two other workers, according to city officials and a neighbor of the victim's family.
The city's Department of Buildings and the Queens district attorney were investigating the accident, the first construction death recorded in New York City this year, according to the department.
A neighbor, Persio Nunez, said that three of Mr. Sanchez's brothers also worked at the construction site, and that one of them, Miguel, was among the three seriously injured on Monday.
"They go every morning to work," said another neighbor, Rafael Hernandez, 52, and are out from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. He said that Huberto "works a lot; he doesn't go out except to work and to come home."
A spokesman for the Fire Department said that Huberto Sanchez had gone into cardiac arrest after the 9:30 a.m. accident, and the police said he was pronounced dead on the way to Elmhurst Hospital Center. The deceased accident victim was a married father of two, with a third child on the way.
The three other men sustained trauma and fractures, officials said. They were in serious but stable condition at Elmhurst Hospital Center on Monday afternoon, the police said.
The wall might have suddenly collapsed because of the way the concrete was added, said Eugene Corcoran, a deputy commissioner for enforcement at the Buildings Department. Mr. Corcoran said there could have been spaces in the concrete if the material had not been properly applied. That, he said, could have made the 65-foot-wide wall unstable.
The building has had six violations since June 2009, when its contractor, the H. Rock Corporation, received a permit for the site, according to Tony Sclafani, the chief spokesman for the Buildings Department. He said the violations, which included things like failing to post proper signage or failing to keep the sidewalk free of equipment, did not relate to the construction of the wall. A person who answered the phone at the company declined to comment.
The city issued a stop-work order at the site pending the investigations.
The site where the building is under construction is owned by Thomas J. Huang, a Queens developer. The property is managed by Queens & Van Loon Management Corp., based in Flushing, Queens, according to signs posted on the site.
The accident occurred as two workers were perched atop the cinder-block wall, which was 18 feet tall, at the site where a five-story building was under construction, officials for the Buildings Department said. Two other workers were on the ground beneath the scaffolding when the blocks patched with concrete began to collapse.
The two men atop the wall were able to ride the cascading momentum to the ground. But the two workers at the bottom of the wall were crushed between the onslaught of blocks and the scaffolding. It was there where one of the men went into cardiac arrest.
Mr. Sanchez and the three others injured worked for a subcontractor, he said.
"When the wall came down, two were on the top and they were able to ride the wall down, which probably saved their lives," Mr. Corcoran said.
Mr. Sclafani said the construction was in its initial stages, sitting amid a row of commercial buildings. This particular structure was intended for mixed use: commercial on the bottom, with the top four floors residential.
Last year there were four construction fatalities in New York City, and three in 2009. But over all, Mr. Sclafani said, the number of construction accidents declined 28 percent last year, to 157 from 218 in 2009.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Lawyer)
Driving on the highways lately I've been seeing road signs about a "move over" law. I had no idea what that was about.
So here goes.
In the United States, the move over laws are intended to protect emergency responders working along the side of a road or highway. To prevent passing cars from striking firefighters, ambulance personnel and police, move over laws require drivers, upon noticing emergency vehicles with sirens or flashing lights, to move away from the vehicle by one lane, or if that is not possible, to slow down by 20 mph below the posted speed limit.
If this sounds like something you never learned to pass your New York driver's license written test, that's because it wasn't on your driver's license test. Until the first of this year (2011), New York was one of the last couple of states to not have a move over law on the books.
Last summer New York Governor Paterson signed into the law the "Ambrose-Searles Move Over Act," which took effect on January 1, 2011. The law is named after two police officers - New York State Trooper Robert Ambrose and Onondaga County Deputy Sheriff Glenn M. Searles - who were killed when their patrols cars were stopped on the side of the road.
The first part of the law, which adds a new Section 1144-a to New York State's Vehicle and Traffic Law, says:
 § 1144-a. Operation of vehicles when approaching a parked, stopped or standing authorized emergency vehicle
Every operator of a motor vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with an authorized emergency vehicle which is parked, stopped or standing on the shoulder or any portion of such highway and such authorized emergency vehicle is displaying one or more red or combination red and white lights . . . . For operators of motor vehicles on parkways or controlled access highways, such due care shall include, but not be limited to, moving from a lane which contains or is immediately adjacent to the shoulder where such authorized emergency vehicle displaying one or more red or combination red and white lights . . . is parked, stopped or standing to another lane. . . .
Attention New York drivers: when you see flashing lights on the side of the road, move over or slow down. And know that a violation of the law is punishable by a fine of up to $275 along with two points on your driver's license record.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Attorney)
Two Staten Island brothers -- one a Marine -- were killed in a horrific crash in the Catskills shortly after they shared a meal with their family, sources and relatives said.
Paul Campione III, 38, was driving his 2001 Subaru Forester along a winding road in Roxbury at around 10:30 p.m., on Thursday January 6, 2011,with his brother, Christopher, 33, when the car careened off a cliff and landed in a pond where it sank, according to State Police.
The men, both married dads, had been building a cabin with their father and younger brother and had just shared a tragic last meal together in nearby Jewett.
"I just thank God my youngest son wasn't with them," said their devastated mother, Ingrid.
After dinner, her youngest son, Eric, left with his dad, Paul Jr., in a separate car to stay at a motel.
Because the lodging didn't take pets, Paul III and Christopher went to drop off their dog at a friend's house where they were staying.
"They dropped off the dog and that's when it happened," Ingrid said.
Christopher and Paul III were pulled from the pond and taken to Magaretville Hospital where they died. It wasn't until a police officer knocked on a relative's door in Staten Island that the family got the news of the horrific crash.
The brothers were members of the plumbers union Local 1 and worked in the family plumbing, heating and air-conditioning business that has been a Staten Island staple for decades.
Christopher, who had a young son, was in the process of getting his plumber's license and served as a sergeant in the Marines. His mother said he was "Paulie's right-hand man."
Paul III had three daughters -- ages 6, 7, and 8.
Investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the crash, but said that the car ran off the road and sank in a small pond below.
State Police Capt. James Barnes told The Associated Press that speed may have been a factor.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Attorney)
Please, please dial "311" if you don't have heat. Buy an electric blanket. Stay with friends or family. But don't try to heat your home with an open oven or burning stove, which are designed for cooking food.
Claudette Rivera, age 72, tried to stay warm in her apartment by running her oven with the oven door open and/or the stove burners on. Her clothing caught fire at about noon on Friday, January 6, 2011 in her apartment at 124 Ludlow Street, in Manhattan's Lower East Side, and the fire engulfed her and her apartment and spread next door.
While the fire was contained to those two apartments, tenants of the other 18 units in the building said the smoke was very heavy in the hallways and they rushed outside.
Neighbor Frances Ayers, 49, tried bravely to save as screams and smoke filled the hallways of 124 Ludlow St. at 11:18 a.m.
"She was covered in flames. I tried to put [it] out," said Ayers, who required treatment for minor burns and smoke inhalation at New York Hospital.
"It was rough," said neighbor Adrian Cutner. "My lungs aren't great. It was really thick. I encountered a lot of dense smoke as I tried to exit the building myself."
"There was black smoke everywhere," said neighbor Vanessa Kark, a makeup artist.
Later, a former worker at the building's ground-level store remembered Rivera as the type of neighbor who "always thought about everyone else."
Evan Green, 28, who lives on the third floor, said he had tried to reach the woman but was beaten back by dense smoke.
"The lady was screaming a bunch, and the fire alarms were going off," he said. "I ran down the hallway to try and see if she was all right, but there was too much smoke"
Rivera, who had lived in the building for some 50 years, was suffering from a lack of heat in the building along with her fellow tenants.
One tenant received minor injuries while escaping from the building. All tenants should be allowed to return home.
Ms. Rivera, who needed a walker to get around, had trouble navigating the flight of stairs to her apartment, especially if she was returning from the grocery store. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Lawyer)
On Tuesday January 4, 2011 a Long Island teen was speeding in a BMW his parents bought him for Christmas when he crashed the car, killing himself and critically injuring his two passengers.
The sequence of events leading to the fatal crash in Westbury, New York, began when Francesco "Frankie" Posillico, age 17, ran a stop sign, bounced off a Chevrolet Cobalt and struck and broke a utility pole.
Amazingly, the driver of the other car, a 24-year-old woman from Levittown, suffered minor injuries and was treated and released from the hospital, Nassau University Medical Center.
Posillicpo was driving so fast that his car stopped only after hitting a tree 150 feet from the initial crash site.
Posillico, whose father owns a landscaping business, was not wearing a seatbelt and was tossed from the BMW. He was later pronounced dead at Nassau University Medical Center.
Rear-seat passenger Joseph Scaperrotta, 16, was in critical condition at Nassau University Medical Center with a fractured spine and leg.
Front-seat passenger Daniel Roche, 16, was in a medically-induced coma, also with spinal and other injuries, and listed in critical condition at Winthrop University Hospital.
The devastating crash in Westbury came just days after who was in two accidents a month after getting his license in August, picked out the 2006 blue BMW 330ci with his father, Giuseppe.
"It appears this was a matter of high speed and inexperience. It was a horrific scene," Nassau County Detective Lt. Ray Cote said, adding there was no evidence of alcohol or drugs.
Posillico had been a member of the Westbury Fire Department's Explorers program for teens since he was 14, and planned on becoming a volunteer firefighter as soon as he turned 18, said First Assistant Fire Chief Douglas Ingram.
All three teenagers had connections to the firehouse: Scaperrotta was also an Explorer. His father, a Westbury firefighter, responded to the crash scene without knowing his son was in the wreckage.
And Roche is a cousin of the department's fire chief, Pat Cody.
Ingram described responding to the accident scene Tuesday evening and urging emergency officials to quickly confirm that the car was, in fact, registered to Posillico.
"Then one of the mothers came up and said, 'I think Joey was in the car,' " he said, shaking his head. "It was a long night."
"I can tell you that it was a horrific scene," said Det. Lt. Raymond Cote.
Police also said that Posillico, who earned a driver's license last summer, had been the driver in two other crashes in September, events that investigators blamed on weather conditions and inexperience. He was not cited in those accidents.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Attorney)
A 9-month-old boy was in critical condition after a livery cab struck a double-parked beige Toyota Tundra and rebounded into him, his twin brother and their mom in Brooklyn on Sunday, police and witnesses said.
The mother, identified by friends as Patricia Machuca, 21, was visiting from Baltimore with her husband, Miguel, and their 9-month-old twins, Gustavo and Daniel. Machuca and the twins were preparing to get into a friend's parked Toyota Tundra pickup truck for the drive back to Baltimore, witnesses said, when disaster struck.
Patricia Mechuca, 21, was pushing a stroller with her sons, Gustavo and Daniel, on Fourth Avenue near 44th Street in Sunset Park at around 1:15 p.m. when the livery cab, a Ford Crown Victoria traveling south on Fourth Ave., lost control.
"The babies were on the ground," said family friend Ismael Remigio, 26, the owner of the Toyota. "It was scary."
All of the injured were taken to Lutheran Medical Center. Both babies suffered head injuries. One was in critical condition last night, and the other in stable condition. Their mother was in stable condition with cuts and bruises.
"I thought she was dead," Remigio said of Machuca. "She was bleeding from her nose, her mouth, her neck. She was unconscious."
"She's a nice person and a good mother," Remigio added."We were about to leave. I went upstairs and two minutes later, I heard the crash," he said.
The livery driver, Gregorio Patino, 57, was hospitalized with chest pains in stable condition. He was charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle (driving without a license), reckless driving and imprudent speed, cops said. He passed a Breathalyzer test.
The cabbie's three passengers, a 40-year-old woman and two boys, 8 and 16, were in stable condition.
Witness Carlos Barera, 25, said the cab sideswiped his vehicle before hitting the double-parked minivan. The cab was speeding, Barera and other witnesses said.
"He was driving like crazy," said Barera. "I couldn't believe it. Everything happened so fast."
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Attorney)
Bronx death - struck by two cars while running from a mugging
A Bronx teenager was killed when he was chased onto the Bruckner Expressway and into the path of two cars after a group of guys jumped him, family members said.
Malik Jenkins, 18, died about 10:45p.m. Wednesday December 29, 2010 when he ran into the busy eastbound lanes of the Bronx thoroughfare near Beach Ave. and was mowed down by a Toyota Prius and a BMW, cops said.
As the driver pulled over, an eastbound BMW struck the pedestrian a second time. The driver of the BMW also stopped and remained on the scene.
Jenkins' parents, Tonya and Thomas Jenkins, said their son's friend told them they were ambushed by a group of young men when they went to meet some girls in the Bronx, and Malik ran onto the expressway to avoid a beatdown.
The parents said cops told them they had not ruled out homicide charges. The medical examiner will perform an autopsy today.
"I'm not going to see my son come home anymore," the heartbroken mother, a Harlem Hospital nurse, told the Daily News.
"That's the hardest part," Thomas Jenkins, 56, a truck driver, added. "At the end of the day, I'll never see my son again."
The parents suspect their son and his friend were lured into a trap by some girls, who asked them to come to a Bronx house and promised to pay their cab fare.
The friend told cops that when they arrived at the house, they were attacked by a group of young men, prompting Jenkins to bolt for the nearby expressway, the family said.
Cops said the driver of the Toyota, a 71-year-old woman, immediately stopped after hitting Jenkins.
Before she could get out of her car, Jenkins was struck by the BMW, driven by a 50-year-old man, police said.
Tonya Jenkins, 50, said she feared the worst when cops called her about 1 a.m. yesterday.
"Officers don't come and get you to bring you to the hospital in the middle of the night if everything is okay," she said. "I knew something was wrong when they didn't let me out of the car."
Malik Jenkins was a senior at Walton High School in the Bronx.
Bronx death - struck while trying to wave off traffic
A long holiday celebration turned to tragedy for the family of a Bronx grandmother who was struck and killed as she tried to wave traffic away from her car after a highway spinout, her grief-torn daughter said yesterday.
Marcia Clarke-Hinton, 50, had just come from visiting her son in California -- scoring a last-minute flight home after days of snow delays -- and was looking forward to spending New Year's Eve with family when she was killed on the Hutchinson River Parkway in front of her horrified daughter.
Yinka McAlpine-Campbell, 24, said she had picked her mom up at Kennedy Airport and was headed to her Pelham Gardens home when their Nissan Pathfinder hit ice and spun out, coming to rest in a snowbank just before 9:40 p.m. Thursday December 30, 2010.
The SUV wound up facing southbound on the northbound Hutch, according to cops.
"We weren't going fast, there was a lot of ice and the road was impossible," a sobbing McAlpine-Campbell told The Post.
She said her mom got out of the car -- and asked her daughter to get out, too -- because she was afraid someone would hit them.
But McAlpine-Campbell said she stayed in the car, turning on the hazard lights and honking the horn as she tried to dislodge the car.
Clarke-Hinton then climbed a snowbank in front of the SUV, trying "to tell other cars to go around," her daughter said.
Suddenly, she took a step forward.
"It's like she saw that car coming and tried to save me," McAlpine-Campbell said.
The car, driven by Bronx resident John Cirola, 52, slammed into the grandmother.
"The car . . . hit her and she flew up as high as the wall," her daughter said.
The force sent Clarke-Hinton flying over the SUV; Cirola's car then struck the Pathfinder.
"The airbag went off, [and] then I was looking for my mom," McAlpine-Campbell recounted through tears. "Her face was split open. I tried to hug her, and she had no pulse. I saw her die."
Police said Cirola remained at the scene, and no criminality is suspected. No tickets were issued.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Attorney)
An elevator malfunction caused a 47 year-old woman to get caught in a Brooklyn hospital elevator on Christmas, Saturday December 25, 2010. She was dragged upwards eight floors in the elevator with her leg sticking out of the door.
According to sources, the unnamed woman, got her leg snagged in the closing door of the elevator on the first floor of Brooklyn's SUNY Downstate Medical Center shortly before 5PM.
Her leg was wedged between the elevator car and the shaft.
A horrified witness dialed 911, and firefighters responded to the hospital.
Power to the elevator was turned off and the elevator was clamped open. The rescuers used cutting tools known as the "jaws of life" to try to free the woman. When the jaws of life didn't do the job,
Once inside, a team of New York's Bravest tied a tourniquet around the woman's severely bleeding leg, and ended up cutting a hole in the floor of the elevator car.
A fire department spokesman said firefighters used an airbag and the jaws of life to free the woman as emergency medical workers treated her "major trauma" and "major loss of blood."
Some firefighters were surprised her leg had even stayed attached during the brutal ordeal.
"There was a lot of blood," said one source.
"A big chunk of her leg was missing," another source said. "It looked like someone ripped it open with a knife."
After the 55-minute rescue, hospital staff transported the woman next-door to Brooklyn's Kings County Hospital, where she underwent surgery.
Sources said the woman, whose name has not been released, was expected to survive the horrific injuries.
It is believed that the woman was visiting as hospitsl patient at the time.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Attorney)
Under New York law, if you're playing sports and get hurt while playing, you generally can't sue someone else for negligence in causing your injury. For example, if you've been hit by a pitch while taking a turn at bat. Or injured while playing tackle football with friends. Or hurt in the face by a tennis ball during a tennis volley, or tripping over the tennis net, etc.
Even spectators have been found to not be able to sue when injured, if the injury if foreseeable given the nature of the sport-such as getting hit with a foul ball while in the stands during a baseball game. Or if a basketball player accidentally lands in your lap while falling into your front row seat.
Exceptions to the Assumption of the Risk Doctrine may be found where there is a hidden defect in the equipment used or the playing area, or if a participant intentionally or recklessly injures another. Would a hockey game players' fight count since it might be foreseeable that players might fight? What if there was known "bad blood" between the combatants?
In any event, New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, has presented us with a decision addressing the dangers of playing golf.
On December 21, 2010, New York's Court of Appeals threw out an injury claim by a doctor blinded in one eye by a golf ball and could no longer practice medicine. The issue was whether his golf partner's failure to yell the traditional warning of "fore" was negligent.
Dr. Anoop Kapoor and Dr. Azad Anand were playing on a nine-hole Long Island course in October 2002 when Anand was hit in the head while looking for his ball on a fairway, injuring him in one eye. The seven judges on the state Court of Appeals, siding with lower courts, said Kapoor's failure to yell "fore" in advance of his errant shot from the rough did not amount to intentional or reckless conduct.
The Court wrote: "The manner in which Anand was injured -- being hit without warning by a 'shanked' shot while one searches for one's own ball -- reflects a commonly appreciated risk of golf," the judges wrote.
The judges also broadly outlined the test under New York case law for determining when another golfer crosses the line and could be sued. "A person who chooses to participate in a sport or recreational activity consents to certain risks" that are inherent to that activity, the judges wrote. "However, a plaintiff 'will not be deemed to have assumed the risks of reckless or intentional conduct or concealed or unreasonably increased risks.'"
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Attorney)
A Sanitation Department worker was struck by a car and killed on Tuesday he crossed a Bronx street in front of the station where he worked, officials said.
Mayor Bloomberg says his "thoughts and prayers" are with the family of a municipal sanitation worker who was struck and killed by a car.
Bloomberg said that 39-year-old Angel Roldan was hit by a car outside his sanitation garage in the Bronx on Tuesday, December 21, 2010. The married father of two was taken to Jacobi Medical Center where he died.
Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty says Roldan was a "dedicated employee" and that he will be missed.
The 45-year-old driver of the blue Honda Pilot that hit Roldan remained at the scene and was not expected to be charged.
The mayor said Roldan had worked for the Department of Sanitation for 11 years. He is survived by his wife, an 18-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son.
His wife, Rena, works for the police department as a traffic enforcement agent.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Lawyer)
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firms named below, announced a voluntary recalls of the following consumer products.
Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.
- HEATER
Name of Product: Flow Pro, Airtech, Aloha Breeze & Comfort Essentials Heaters
Units: About 2.2 millionImporter: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., of Bentonville, Arkansas
Hazard: The heaters can malfunction resulting in overheating, smoking, burning, melting and fire.
Injuries/Accidents: Wal-Mart has received 21 reports of incidents, which included 11 reports of property damage beyond the heater. Injuries were reported in four incidents, three of which required medical attention for minor burns and smoke inhalation. The remaining incidents included smoke irritation, sparking or property damage beyond the heater.
Description: This recall involves Flow Pro, Airtech, Aloha Breeze and Comfort Essentials 1500 watt heaters. The heaters are grey with a metal handle on the top with vents and grey control knobs on the front. The model number is 1013 and can be found on a label on the lower left corner of the back panel of the heater.
Sold Exclusively at: Walmart stores nationwide from December 2001 through October 2009 for about $18.
Manufactured in: China
Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled heater and return the product to any Walmart store for a full refund.
2. PORTABLE BUTANE STOVES
Name of Product: Sterno Portable Butane Stoves
Units: About 37,500
Importer: The Sterno Group LLC, of Des Plaines, Ill.
Hazard: The stove's "on-off" valve can fail to close completely when turned to the "off" position, causing butane to leak from the stove. This poses a fire and burn hazard to consumers.
Incidents/Injuries: Sterno has received one report of a stove failing to completely shut off. No injuries have been reported.
Description: The recalled portable butane stoves have model numbers STO6001 and 50006. The single burner stoves are black and measure about 14 inches wide x 12 inches long x 4 inches high. They use an eight-ounce butane canister as the fuel source. "Sterno" is printed on the front of the stove. The model number and UPC 0-27371-50006-9 or UPC 0-76642-06001-6 is printed on the stove's packaging.
Sold at: Sporting goods stores and other retail stores nationwide, including Puerto Rico, from September 2009 through September 2010, and to restaurants and restaurant supply stores from August 2006 through September 2010 for between $20 and $30.
Manufactured in: China
Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled portable butane stoves and contact Sterno for instructions to return the units to Sterno for a free replacement stove. Do not return the stoves to the place of purchase.
3. FAGOR REFRIGERATORS
Name of Product: Fagor Refrigerators
Units: About 1,400
Importer: Fagor America Inc., of Lyndhurst, N.J.
Hazard: The refrigerator's control board can overheat, posing a fire hazard to consumers.
Incidents/Injuries: Fagor America has received 19 reports of incidents, including two reports of fires resulting in damage to the refrigerator and surrounding property. No injuries have been reported.
Description: This recall involves Fagor 24-inch wide refrigerators sold in stainless steel and black. "Fagor" is printed on the refrigerator's front door. Model and serial numbers are located inside the refrigerator door, on the left hand side near the food storage drawers.
| |
Models
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Serial Numbers Within the Range of
|
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Fagor
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T/3FCA-68NFX
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Serial numbers starting with 0609xxxxx through 0727xxxxx
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3FCA-68NFX
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Serial numbers starting with 0746xxxxx through 1017xxxxx
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FCA-86ART
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Serial numbers starting with 0839xxxxx through 0915xxxxx
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Sold at: Specialty Home Appliance Stores nationwide between July 2006 and May 2010 for between $2,000 and $2,500.
Manufactured in: Spain
Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the refrigerator, unplug it and contact the Fagor repair hotline to schedule a free inspection and repair.
4. CDX DESK AND TABLE LAMPS
Name of Product: Desk and Table Lamps
Units: About 1,600
Wholesaler: CDX Group Inc., of Brooklyn, NewYork.
Hazard: Substandard electrical wiring, connections and plugs in these lamps pose a fire and shock risk to consumers.
Incidents/Injuries: None reported.
Description: This recall involves eight different desk and table lamps including item numbers 207, 303, 9774, 1108, 1109, 049-1, 054-8 and 2001-271B. The item numbers are printed on the lamps' packaging.
Sold at: CDX Group's showroom, New Chens Discount, Concordia Trading Inc. and Grace Mini Market in Brooklyn, New York and Dollar King in Lexington, Ky. from April 2010 through July 2010 for between $5 and $10.
Manufactured in: China
Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled lamps and contact CDX Group to return the lamps to the place where purchased for a full refund.
5. BED BATH & BEYOND SILVER METALLIC PILLAR CANDLES
Name of Product: Silver Metallic Pillar Candles
Units: About 12,000
Manufacturer: General Wax & Candle Company, of North Hollywood, Calif.
Hazard: The metallic paint on the candles can ignite, posing a risk of fire.
Incidents/Injuries: None reported.
Description: This recall involves metallic pillar candles sold in two sizes: 2.8 by 4 inches and 2.8 by 6 inches. "Metallic Pillar Candle" and UPC code 86718 56082 or 86718 56092 is printed on the bottom of the candles' plastic wrapping.
Sold exclusively at: Bed Bath and Beyond stores nationwide from October 2010 through November 2010 for between $8 and $10.
Manufactured in: United States
Remedy: Consumers should stop using the recalled candles and return them to any Bed Bath and Beyond store or contact General Wax and Candle for a full refund.
6. FOREVER-GLO® CYLINDER NITE LITES
Name of Product: Forever-Glo® Cylinder Nite Lites
Units: About 272,000
Importer: American Tack & Hardware Co. Inc. (AmerTac), of Saddle River, N.J.
Hazard: An electrical short circuit in the night light can cause it to overheat and smolder or melt which can burn consumers or result in a fire.
Incidents/Injuries: AmerTac has received nine reports of the recalled night lights smoking, burning, melting and/or charring. No injuries have been reported.
Description: The recalled Forever-Glo® Cylinder Nite Lite is a cylinder shaped night light with a white base and clear top that plugs into the wall. Only Model Number 71107 with a manufacturer code of SY is included in this recall. The model number and manufacturer code are printed on the back of the night light. The light measures about 4 inches in height by 1- 1/2 inches wide and is about 1 inch deep.
Sold at: Hardware stores, lighting showrooms and home centers nationwide from May 2009 through September 2010 for about $5.
Manufactured in: China
Remedy: Consumers should stop using the recalled night lights immediately. If the units are plugged into the wall, remove the light from the wall socket. Contact the firm for instructions on receiving a full refund.
7. TOUCH POINT OSCILLATING CERAMIC HEATERS
Name of Product: Touch Point Oscillating Ceramic Heaters
Units: About 6,700
Importer: Meijer, of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Manufacturer: Ningbo Dongji Electronic Tech Co. LTC, of Ningbo, Dongki, China
Hazard: The oscillating mechanism in the heaters can short out, posing a fire hazard to consumers.
Incidents/Injuries: Meijer has received two reports of incidents involving fires that resulted in property damage. No injuries have been reported.
Description: This recall involves Touch Point PTC oscillating ceramic heater with model number PTC-902 and serial numbers between 35005-43008. Model and serial numbers are located on a sticker on the bottom of the heater. The grey/silver colored heaters are about 10 inches tall and have a screen across the front.
Sold exclusively at: Meijer stores in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio from October 2009 through October 2010 for about $25.
Manufactured in: China
Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled heaters and return them to the nearest Meijer retail store for a full refund of the purchase price.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Attorney)
A Brooklyn teen accused of texting when she mowed down 53-year-old deliveryman Tian Sheng Lin on a scooter was indicted Monday on charges of criminally negligent homicide.
Nechama Rothberger, 19, had previously been charged with reckless driving and use of a mobile telephone after she plowed into Lin on September 19th -- subject of a previous blog post.
Lin was hurled from his scooter, suffered massive organ damage and lingered at Kings County Hospital after the crash. The father of three was declared brain dead shortly after the crash. He later died.
Rothberger, also of Midwood, was texting while she was driving, and hit Lin, who was stopped at a red light at 17th Street and Avenue P, Brooklyn, according to a criminal complaint.
Rothberger, the daughter of a physician, was driving a Toyota Camry and told cops she didn't see Lin, according to the complaint. She was texting when the cops arrived at the scene of the accident, the complaint states. At her arraignment in September, prosecutors said that cops found Rothenberger's cell phone in her car with a half-written outgoing message.
Her attorney, Jeffrey Schwartz, says, "We're hoping to resolve this case in a way that doesn't destroy her future." Rothberger remains free on $5,000 bail.
The Brooklyn DA's office declined to comment because the indictment has yet to be filed.
Comment: Will the doctor's teenage daughter get away with murder - after killing the scooter-riding deliveryman?
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Attorney)
Sometimes when you're the victim of a crime or rip off, if it's non-violent and there's no real permanent damage except you lose some money and maybe your pride is dinged, in a circumstance such as that you can sometimes admire evil genius. Not as an example to be followed but to be avoided and maybe with a thought of how successful such a mind might be if it served good and if it did not direct its energy to "The Dark Side."
Vitaly Borker of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, is our villain. His terribly nasty scam is gorgeous.
He sold designer eyeglasses over the Internet. And has customers always had problems, say things like non-delivery or being overcharged or the eyeglasses would be delivered but be bootleg or fake designer brands.
Hear's the beautiful part: Borker would never try to make things right. He wanted customers to be unhappy so they'd complain. If fact, he took steps to ensure that they'd be unhappy. He'd offend, harass, and cyber-bully his customers. He ran his website, DecorMyEyes so as to maximize bad publicity.
According to authorities, Borker:
*Regularly e-mailed customers expletive-filled notes.
*Told one woman's husband that he was married to a "f----g whore."
*Threatened to sexually assault another woman.
*Posted Google Earth pics of his victim's homes -- and warned he knew how to find them.
Why, you might ask?
According to Mr. Borker, each bad review boosts his site's PageRank - meaning that the site comes out on top of Google's ratings for many of the products he sells. While a direct Google search for 'DecorMyEyes' elicits the site and its many negative reviews, searching for individual products and brands does not. The reason, cited by an anonymous Google publicist, is that the large number of links to DecorMyEyes from reputable sites such as Ripoff Report make it a high-ranking site for the different products it sells. This raised its profile on Google - boosted by negative consumer comments - and drew traffic to his business.
That's what New York Times reporter David Segal alleges in a lengthy exposé that says the search engine may be partially "unable to distinguish between adulatory buzz and scathing critics when it scours the digital universe and ranks the best and the brightest."
According to one journalist discussing the diminishing returns of publicly shaming a poor on-line service: "We usually think of a negative Google result as a terrible stain on our character that will haunt us forever, but Borker has figured out how to game the system....Maybe we've been overestimating the power of embarrassing Google results all along? The shame of a Google stain doesn't have much effect on someone who's shameless."
December 6, 2010 Vitaly Borker, age 34, also known as "Tony Russo," was arrested in the spacious Sheepshead Bay home he shares with his wife and 2-year-old. He may have been a tough guy online and on the phone but when he was cuffed he was bawling like a baby, sources said.
Agents of the United States Postal Inspection Service picked him up on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, making interstate threats and cyber-stalking and arraigned him in the United States District Court in Manhattan. The complaint against him says he made threatening phone calls to customers, saying things such as "I can hurt you" and "I know where you work" after they complained about his products. It also alleges he threatened some with sexual assault.
Assistant U.S. Attorney E. Danya Perry described him as the messenger for "absolutely unspeakable and bone-chilling" threats that frightened hundreds of customers around the world, leaving many of them in fear of their lives. Bail was denied on the basis that he was a threat to the community. A search of the Borker's home resulted in confiscation of a stock of counterfeit eyeglasses and a few guns and some child pornography. New York State charges, under investigation, are pending.
Whether Borker's theories about Google were correct is unclear. However, the issue is now moot: Google says it's changing the way its search function works, dropping down on the "results" page those merchants with horrid customer ratings.
Google responded to the New York Times story by writing an algorithm that "detects the merchant from the Times article along with hundreds of other merchants that, in our opinion, provide an extremely poor user experience" and significantly reduces their search visibility on product searches.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Lawyer)
Drag racing blamed for fatal Queens crash that kills Brooklyn dad
Drag racing is to blame for a horrific crash in Queens that left one man dead and another critically injured on Monday, November 29, 2010, police sources said.
Geraud Gray, 24, of Brooklyn, lost control of his 2003 black Nissan Maxima while traveling westbound in the center lane along North Conduit Avenue near 78th Street in Ozone Park, on a curve, slamming into a pole on North Conduit Ave. near 78th St. in Ozone Park about 10:16 a.m. yesterday, authorities said.
The car flipped over onto its roof, skidded along the roadway and jumped the curb, where it smashed into and sheared two telephone poles, leaving the car crumpled, witnesses said.
Witnesses reported he was speeding and driving erratically on a stretch of North Conduit Ave. that's a hot spot for drag-racing, cops said Police estimate the vehicle was traveling in excess of 90 mph, sources said.
"The car was smoking. All you saw were desperate hands, coming out, waving for help," said Consuelo Aviles, 47, who witnessed the wreck while driving to work.
"The impact was so bad, we tried to help everyone but didn't know where to start. The only thing I was able to do was call 911."
Two men were in the vehicle. The driver was taken to Brookdale hospital where he was listed in critical condition, sources said. Amazingly, an 18-year-old man in the passenger seat somehow survived and is in stable condition at Brookdale University Hospital, authorities said. His
name was not released.
The male passenger was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Neighbors said racing is nothing new to the area.
"People want to drive like maniacs. They speed-race here every day. And every year, someone gets killed," said Latoya Medford, 24, who lives nearby.
The name of the dead passenger was being withheld by police pending notification of family.
Two other vehicles involved in the race never stopped, witnesses said.
Drunk driver possibly drag racing kills 25-year-old Brooklyn yeshiva student
The victim was driving a red Mercury Sable north on Ocean Ave. when he was struck by a southbound black Volkswagen (below) that crossed the double yellow line, cops said.
A 25-year-old Brooklyn yeshiva student, Moshe Berkowitz, was killed when his car was struck by a drunken driver who may have been drag racing, police sources and a witness said.
The crash occurred on Ocean Ave. near Avenue N just after 11:35 p.m. on Monday, November 29, 2010, police said.
The victim was driving a red Mercury Sable north on Ocean Ave. when he was struck by a southbound black Volkswagen Passat that crossed the double yellow line, cops said.
The victim was rushed to Maimonides Hospital, where he died a short time later. The driver was taken to nearby Kings County Hospital.
The suspect and a woman in the car with him were taken to the same hospital with minor injuries, police said. The driver's blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit of .08, sources said, and he is expected to be charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated.
A witness to the aftermath of the crash said the suspect and his passenger reeked of booze.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Lawyer)
Death in Bronx fire
In a tragic twist of fate, a beloved barber afraid of dying in a fire was killed in a raging inferno that ravaged his Bronx apartment building over the weekend.
The charred body of Juan Marte, 46, was found in a stairwell of the five-story building at 131 E. 169th St. in Mount Eden, where the suspicious blaze broke out in the lobby at 10 p.m. Saturday.
Witnesses reported seeing several teenagers lighting pieces of paper before the blaze, sources said.
Marte "had said he never wanted to die in a fire," said Ernesto Batista, 28, a barber at the High Class Barbershop on Grand Concourse near East 170th Street, where Marte worked.
"We [talked] about it after watching a story on the news. He didn't want to be burned."
The fire's flames had forced at least two children to jump from windows to safety.
"I don't understand how [Marte] couldn't get out," said Dinorah Gonzalez, 46, who lived on the fourth floor along with the victim, his wife and two daughters. "I think he was trying to help people get out of the building."
Investigators found several bags of marijuana and grow lamps in the basement, a source said.
The blaze remains under investigation by fire marshals.
New York City teen drowns in Pennsylvania hotel pool
Officials say a teen from New York City drowned in the pool of a northeastern Pennsylvania hotel over the weekend.
Lackawanna County Coroner Joseph Brennan tells The Times-Tribune newspaper 15-year-old Jordan Vaughan drowned Saturday evening at the Ramada Inn in Clarks Summit, near Scranton.
Brennan says the teen was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Woman dies in four-car crash near Rochester
Authorities say a woman has died after the car she was riding in was involved in a four-vehicle crash on a road outside Rochester.
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office says the accident occurred around 2:30 p.m. Sunday on Route 104 in the town of Parma, just northwest of Rochester.
Deputies say a car waiting to make a left turn was rear ended, sending it into oncoming traffic, where it was struck by a truck. Deputies say two other cars went off the road to avoid hitting the other vehicles.
Authorities say a woman from the town of Greece who was riding in the first car was transported to a local hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. The woman's name hasn't been released.
Off-duty NYPD cop dies in one-car Long Island crash
An off-duty NYPD sergeant was killed Sunday morning (November 28, 2010) in a fiery one-car crash on Long Island.
Anthony Johnson, 32, was driving home when he lost control of his Jeep Cherokee on the Southern State Parkway in Valley Stream just west of Rockaway Avenue and smashed into a tree at 3:08 a.m.
Johnson, an eight-year veteran, was assigned to the 114th Precinct in Astoria, Queens.
He was single and lived in West Babylon.
One dead, one injured in Queens drag racing crash
Drag racing is to blame for a horrific crash in Queens that left one man dead and another critically injured this morning (November 29, 2010), police sources said.
A 2003 black Nissan Maxima was traveling westbound in the center lane along North Conduit Avenue near 78th Street in Ozone Park when the driver lost control at a bend in the road around 8 a.m., witnesses said.
The car flipped over onto its roof, skidded along the roadway and jumped the curb, where it smashed into and sheared two telephone poles, leaving the car crumpled, witnesses said.
Police estimate the vehicle was traveling in excess of 90 mph, sources said.
"The car was smoking. All you saw were desperate hands, coming out, waving for help," said Consuelo Aviles, 47, who witnessed the wreck while driving to work.
"The impact was so bad, we tried to help everyone but didn't know where to start. The only thing I was able to do was call 911."
Two men were in the vehicle. The driver was taken to Brookdale Hospital where he was listed in critical condition, sources said.
The male passenger was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Neighbors said racing is nothing new to the area.
"People want to drive like maniacs. They speed-race here every day. And every year, someone gets killed," said Latoya Medford, 24, who lives nearby.
The name of the dead passenger was being withheld by police pending notification of family.
Two other vehicles involved in the race never stopped, witnesses said.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Attorney)
A 31-year-old man heading to a Queens pizzeria with a pal was mowed down by a teenage hit-and-run driver and then struck again by a second vehicle, police said.
Dominik Winnick is in very critical condition at New York Hospital Queens after twice being slammed into as he crossed 108th Street at 63rd Road in Forest Hills at about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 27, 2010.
"I was bending down to tie my laces. I just heard a car brake," said Winnick's pal, Maciej Zabierek, 30. "Then I looked up, and my friend was in the air.''
Winnick, 31, was first hit by a Nissan Rogue SUV driven by Avraham Mullokandov, 17, southbound on 108th Street, police said. That impact threw him into the lane of traffic traveling in the other direction..
"The car drove over him and kept going," according to Zabierek.
Mullokandov, 17, fled the scene, police said.
Winnick's legs were then run over by a Nissan Maxima sedan traveling northbound on 108th Street, Zabierek said. That (second) motorist remained on the scene and has not been charged.
"I put my hand on his chest. I was telling him not to give up," Zabierek said. "I was just terrified for him."
"He's my only child. He's a very good boy," said a sobbing Alina Winnick, 59, who kept vigil at the hospital yesterday with her husband, Zigmunt, 65.
"Doctors say it's no good. Maybe he has a few days, then he'll die. His brain is completely damaged."
Winnick emigrated from Poland 23 years ago and is a maintenance worker for 1 Beekman Place, a luxury co-op in Manhattan.
About 30 minutes after the crash, Mullokandov returned to the scene and was arrested, police said.
He is charged with vehicular assault, leaving the scene of an accident and violating the terms of his restricted license, police added.
A few hours earlier on Saturday (November 27, 2010), two cars collided at a busy intersection near the Staten Island Expressway, claiming the life of 82-year-old Mary Toppino, of Hunter Avenue, Midland Beach. Mrs. Toppino was pronounced dead at Staten Island University Hospital.
There was no criminality suspected in the 8:40 p.m. crash on Hylan Blvd. at Steuben St., police said. The 82-year-old woman was riding in the back right seat of a Mercedes-Benz that was traveling south on Hylan Blvd.
A Pontiac -- which carried a 60-year-old driver and a 62-year-old passenger -was heading in the opposite direction and tried to make a left turn at the intersection, but crashed into the Mercedes, striking the vehicle's right side, police said.
All others involved in the crash were listed in stable condition this morning, though the male could be seen being extricated from the Mercedes by emergency officials last night and loaded into a stretcher.
Neighbors lamented the perils of a dangerous intersection that has seen more than its share of accidents.
In August, a 21-year-old Fayad Madwa died when she was ejected from her vehicle in a two-car crash. Last year, 25-year-old Brian Guariglia was killed making the same turn when his 2009 Kawasaki sports bike collided with a car at the intersection.
"Every second or third day, there's an accident," said Dani Selmani, a neighbor who was walking his dog past the crash site last night. "It's a design problem. It's ridiculous, Something's got to change."
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Lawyer)
A woman was killed today crossing an Upper West Side intersection with groceries in her arms - mowed down by a sports car that tried to flee the scene, witnesses and sources said.
The victim - who wasn't immediately identified - was fatally struck by a white Dodge Charger at about 4 p.m. while crossing West 93rd Street where it crosses Columbus Avenue. Witnesses said the pedestrian wasn't in the crosswalk. The car slammed into the woman, tossing her body into the air in front of horrified onlookers.
Paramedics raced to the scene, but the woman couldn't be saved. The victim was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Police haven't released the identities of the 24-year-old driver or the dead woman. The motorist was in custody Friday night. Charges were pending. The Charger's windshield was smashed afer slamming into the pedestrian.
"It was so loud that I heard it from my window. I heard the thud," said H.A. Rigney, who lives in a building near the tragic accident scene. "She was thrown 20 feet from the crosswalk. Her feet were bare."
"She was laying there like a ragdoll," Rigney added. "All of her groceries were all over the street and her shoes were knocked off."
"The car was going really fast down 93rd St., much faster than normal," said Lisette Gomez, 30, who saw the crash as she stood behind the counter of a nearby dry cleaner. "The car hit the lady and she flew up in the air as high as a streetlight. Then she landed between two cars."
Christopher Farmer, 33, was shaken.
"It's definitely a sobering thing to see," Farmer said.
Bystanders crowded around the injured woman as she lay in the street.
The driver continued on for about a block before stopping at Columbus and Amsterdam Avenue after a good Samaritan in a green Jets jacket ran after her and yelled for her to stop, witnesses added. "The guy [in the Jets jacket] told me that the lady was probably dead and asked me to call 911. He was really upset," said a doorman who works nearby.
"It was my light. It was my light," the driver sobbed on a cell phone video shot by another witness.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Lawyer)
You may recall:
In November 2008, in Bombay (now called Mumbai), India, some 195 people were murdered and 300 wounded. From November 26th until November 29th, Islamic terrorists from Pakistan attacked several sites in Mumbai sites, including luxury hotels, a hospital, a train station and a popular café. Indian police managed to eventually kill the attackers, except for Ajmal Kasab, the only attacker who was captured alive.
He disclosed that the attackers were members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant organization, considered a terrorist organization by India, Pakistan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations. The Indian government said that the attackers came from Pakistan, and that their controllers were in Pakistan. On May 6, 2010 an Indian trial court sentenced Ajmal Kasab to death on five counts.
NOW: Relatives of two New Yorkers murdered in a Hasidic center during the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, India, have sued Pakistan's intelligence agency and the Kashmir-based terror organization that was reportedly behind the operation.
Gavriel Noah Holtzberg, a rabbi originally from Brooklyn, and his pregnant wife, Rivka, were gunned down when terrorists stormed the Chabad Lubavitch center in a commando-style attack that also killed the couple's unborn child.
The Holtzberg's 2 year-old son survived the attack after being rescued by his nanny, who moved to Israel to care for him with his grandparents. He now lives with his grandfather in Israel, who filed the suit in Brooklyn federal court.
The lawsuit names Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), several ranking ISI officials, and Lashkar-E-Taiba, a terror group that operates in Kashmir, the disputed territory over which both Pakistan and India claim sovereignty.
The claim is largely based on the involvement of Pakistan national David Headley who has pleaded guilty to plotting the attacks with Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Headley, a former federal drug informant from Chicago, held fundraising events in New York City while he was coordinating with the terror group and the ISI in planning the attack, the suit says.
The wrongful death suit asks for unspecified damages and cites claims that the ISI has worked closely with the Lashkar-E-Taiba group.
Comment: The suit may not be politically popular, since Pakistan is an ally of the U.S. in the war in Afghanistan and our efforts to fight Al Qaeda. It is believed that ISI plays both sides aganist the middle, aiding the U.S., but also providing support to Al Qaeda-many believe that the ISI looks the other way so that Al-Qaeda can operate in Western Pakistan. Also, the U.S. Government can interfere with the siut if it believes that it jeopardizes American interests. So if the suit will go forward and whther Pakistan will defend remain to be seen.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Attorney)
A day after hosting a joyous 7th birthday party for his daughter, a veteran New York City cop was killed by a wrong-way drunk driver in a horrific pre-dawn crash, authorities said today.
Officer Andre Menzies was on his way home from work was killed Monday, November 15, 2010 at 4:00 AM when his car was slammed by a boozed-up Brooklyn man driving the wrong way, authorities said.
Officer Menzies - a father of five - was driving east on the Northern State Parkway in Dix ills, L.I., about 12:05 a.m. when he was hit head-on by Michael Bowen's Ford van.
Bowen, 50, of Brownsville, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.25 - more than three times the legal limit, authorities said. He suffered only minor injuries. According to prosecutors, Bowen smelled of alcohol on his breath and was unsteady on his feet. They said he admitted to police that he had two glasses of brandy before setting off from Brooklyn to Mount Vernon.
Investigators believe Menzies, age 35, a nine-year veteran assigned to the Queens Housing Bureau, died on impact.
He lived in North Babylon, L.I., with his wife, Natacha, and their two children - ages 9 and 7. He also left behind three daughters - ages 12, 14 and 15 - he had with his first wife, who died a dozen years ago.
"I lost my mom and my dad," said Andrea Menzies, 15. "He was all I had left."
Andrea described her father as "just a regular dad" and recalled how he would always take her shopping. Her sister, Melissa, 14, remembered how her father, a former college basketball player, taught her the game.
"We're just in shock. Nobody can believe it," said Menzies' father, Robert Menzies, 58, who is raising the three older children.
Bowen was arrested for driving while intoxicated and reckless driving, authorities said. The deadly crash occurred just east of the Wolf Hill Road exit. State troopers got a report of a wrong-way driver on the parkway, but didn't find Bowen in time, said Tom Magno, assistant chief of the Dix Hills Volunteer Fire Department.
Bowen was arraigned in Suffolk County district court. He pleaded not guilty and was ordered held on $350,000 cash bail and $500,000 bond. He is being held at Riverhead Correctional Facility. He also was ordered to surrender his passport. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly offered condolences from the NYPD, noting that Menzies' "young children are left without a father as a result of this senseless accident."
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly expressed his condolences. "His young children are left without a father as a result of a senseless accident," Kelly said.
Menzies had a civil suit pending against the NYPD in federal court, claiming the department harassed him and hampered his efforts to get promoted to sergeant after unsubstantiated insurance fraud accusations against him. The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The widow's sister, Margaret Ford, said the family at first didn't tell Menzies' only son, Joshua, 9, his dad had died. "'Do you think my dad would be able to come to my basketball game tomorrow?'" the boy asked, Ford said.
NEW YORK CITY MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG ISSUED A PRESS RELEASE:
STATEMENT OF MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG ON THE DEATH OF POLICE OFFICER ANDRE MENZIES, STRUCK BY A DRUNK DRIVER DRIVING THE WRONG WAY ON A DIVIDED HIGHWAY
The following are the remarks of the Mayor as delivered today in the City Hall Blue Room:
"Good afternoon. Before we talk about why we're here - the announcement of the day - let me just say that it is my sad duty to report the death of a New York City police officer who was killed this morning when a drunk driver struck his car head-on. Coming on the heels of an accident on Saturday night that critically injured a teenage girl on City Island, which also involved an apparently intoxicated driver; this is just another tragic reminder of the deadly danger of drunk driving. So make no mistake about it, we are determined to stop drunk driving now - before the holiday season gets into full swing. We don't want any more of this kind of carnage that we saw this weekend.
"The specifics are that this morning around 12:05 a.m., Police Officer Andre Menzies, 35-years-old, who was off-duty at the time, was driving east on the Northern State Parkway. His car was struck head-on by a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction on a divided highway. Officer Menzies, a nine-year veteran of the NYPD, died at the accident scene. The driver of the car that hit Officer Menzies' vehicle, a 50-year-old Brooklyn man, was given a sobriety test by the Suffolk County officers. He failed it, and was arrested.
"Officer Menzies was assigned to duty in public housing in Queens and he had gone off duty at 11:30 p.m. Sunday. He leaves a wife, Natasha; they have a son and daughter, ages nine and seven. As I mentioned earlier, on Saturday night, Emily Sexton, 17-years-old, was struck by an out-of-control pickup truck that left the roadway and pinned her to the door of an apartment building at a bus stop near her home on City Island. The driver of the pickup was arrested at the scene. Emily was taken to Jacobi Medical Center; thankfully, she's expected to survive, but she sustained many injuries and is still in critical condition.
"The bottom line is we are not going to let drunk drivers inflict more death and suffering. And as we get into the holiday season, I know everybody wants to enjoy themselves, but you're not going to enjoy what happens to you if you take somebody's life or cause injury to somebody. You just have to think a little bit before you start driving. If you're going to drive, don't drink. If you're going to drink, don't drive. There are plenty of ways that you can get a ride home. Nothing is as important - no reason you have to get home is important enough to put somebody else's life in danger."
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Lawyer)
On Saturday November 13, 2010 a possibly drunk driver struck a college-bound teenager with his pickup truck on a City Island sidewalk, leaving the girl critically injured, police said.
Driver Peter Wolfman, 40, of Florida hastily hung a U-turn in his Ford F-150 at 10:45 p.m. on the island's main drag, jumping the sidewalk and pinning Preston High School senior Emily Sexton, 17, against a coffee shop as her boyfriend and another pal looked on in horror, said police sources and the victim's relatives.
Her pals were able to dodge the out-of-control Ford, but Sexton - who was born in South Korea and was adopted when she was a year old - didn't stand a chance.
Sexton crumbled to the sidewalk. She was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center with two broken legs, a shattered pelvis, and internal damage to her lungs, liver and spleen, sources said.
Friends dashed off to find Sexton's parents, who were enjoying a local play nearby, and her brother, who was hanging out with pals a short distance from the awful crash.
"I ran up to her and thought she was dead," said the shattered brother, Greg Sexton, 15. "It was very scary."
He choked back tears when he recalled looking at his sister lying on the ground.
"I couldn't do anything to help," Sexton sobbed. "That was the worst part. That made me feel bad."
Wolfman was spotted by neighbors stumbling out of a City Island bar moments before the crash. He had left to get his truck when the accident occurred, sources said.
Police sources said he appeared to be intoxicated when cops arrived at the scene. He refused a Breathlyzer test, but police were seeking a warrant to draw his blood, sources added.
Wolfson has been charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
Witnesses said he rocketed down the street.
"He made a dramatic U-turn like a guy trying to look cool, and then I heard him slam into the side of the building and saw that he hit Emily," said one of Sexton's friends, Ciernan Shanley, 15, who was near the scene at the time.
"As the truck was approaching, she froze in place like she was too scared to move," the eyewitness said.
After the crash, Wolfman stumbled out of his white truck and collapsed to the ground, witnesses said.
He was also taken to Jacobi Hospital, where he was treated for leg fractures, sources said. Wolfman has a history of arrests in Florida, ranging from attacking a cop, for which he did two years in prison, to cocaine possession.
Sexton remains in critical but stable condition, sources said.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Attorney)
On November 14, 2010 Anthony Grays, age 39, of Fresh Meadows, Queens, New York, lost control of his car after a dispute with his passenger, blasted through a fence and struck and injured two children in the front yard of their Queens home about 5 p.m., sending 4-year-old Aicha Sylla girl to a hospital in critical condition, the police said.
Aicha was trapped between the black 1998 Mercury Sable and a concrete wall. One neighbor ran to her aid and held up her limp body as another pressed a foot against the bumper to push the vehicle off her.
Her brother, 11-year-old Tydian, was in stable condition at Long Island Jewish Medical Center after the accident at 160th Street and North Conduit Avenue. He was trapped underneath the car but managed to roll out.
"It was horrible. The little girl was pinned between the bumper and the house," said eyewitness Whitney Scottborgh, age 43, who lives across the street from the house on 160th Street and North Conduit Boulevard in Springfield Gardens.
The accident occurred at 4:50 p.m., said Scottborgh, adding that the children's mom "came running out . . . crying."
"You only heard screams," Scottborgh said.
A Breathalyzer test showed that Grays had been drinking, and "he did confirm there was an argument that distracted him," a police source said.
The children's father angrily charged at Grays in front of the house, Scottborgh said. But the neighbor told him, "You don't want to do that," and he reluctantly backed off.
Though the police said that there was no criminality suspected in the accident, the driver,
remained at the scene after the accident and was arrested on unrelated charges of criminal contempt of an order of protection. The woman in the car with him had taken out the order against Mr. Grays, the police said.
The police had no details about the nature of the dispute between Mr. Grays and the woman in the car. The accident is still being investigated.
Comment: So, it seems the passenger had an order of protection against Grays, which he violated by having her in the car. No word yet as to why the passenger got into the car with Grays if she had an order of protection against him. Not surprising that they argued, but tragic that two children were accident victims here.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Attorney)
Brooklyn fire rips through supermarket and apartment building
On Friday, November 12, 2010 an inferno in a Park Slope, Brooklyn, building gutted a supermarket and left scores of people homeless.
The massive three-alarm blaze broke out inside a building on Fifth Avenue near 17th Street about 12:15 a.m. today and quickly spread throughout the three story structure, tearing through the Associated Supermarket, in the ground floor and gutting 10 residential apartments above, said officials.
The blaze also spread to a neighboring hair salon, decimating that business, said fire officials.
It took 150 firefighters to douse the blaze, which was still burning at 4:30 p.m, officials said.
Eight firefighters suffered minor injuries. No civilians were injured. The cause of the blaze is being investigated by New York Fire Department Fire Marshalls.
Bronx woman dies after being trapped in basement by fast-moving fire
On Saturday, November 13th 2010, a Bronx woman died after being trapped in her basement apartment by a fast-moving fire early in the morning.
Johanna Parliament, age 60, was rushed to Jacobi Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
It took 105 firefighters from 25 units nearly two hours to bring the two-alarm blaze under control.
She lived in the basement apartment of the house on Gifford Ave. in Throggs Neck, Bronx, with her daughter, who suffered minor injuries. Another family that shares the apartment was away for the weekend, neighbors said.
"I heard the daughter yelling out my name," said Noel Medina, 46, who lives next door. "She kept screaming her mother was trapped inside. I ran out to try and help her. I broke one of the windows with a flashlight but the whole place was engulfed in smoke and flames."
"We had to hold her daughter back from trying to go back in to get her," Medina added.
Parliament was well-liked on the block, neighbors said.
"That woman was golden," Medina said of the victim. "She was so kind, and would give me coffee every morning."
"The flames were enormous," said neighbor Rosa Menendez, 58. "The entire block was covered in smoke."
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Lawyer)
STUDENT FALLS TO HIS DEATH IN BROOKLYN
A Brooklyn College student fell to his death from his dorm room inside the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn Heights early on Sunday, November 7, 2010 -- and cops are investigating whether the man took psychedelic mushrooms before the plunge.
Cops said that 19-year-old Michael Simmons fell from the eighth-story window of the building on Henry Street near Clark Street at about 2 am.
Rob Cordova, who lives in the building, said he was parking across the street when Simmons fell.
"I heard a loud bang ... I saw him lying there -- people were screaming and crying and running out to see," Cordova said. "The cops roped off the body and put a sheet over him. People were also taking pictures. It made me sick."
A memorial of flowers and notes was set up on Monday near the spot where Simmons landed on Henry Street. Students filtered in and out of the dormitory, some crying and holding one another. A note on the memorial read, "Mike -- Gone but definitely not forgotten."
The medical examiner -- who hasn't returned calls by press time -- is performing an autopsy to determine whether the death is a suicide and confirm a Daily News report that Simmons ate "magic mushrooms" earlier that night.
The Arizona native was studying dramatic arts at the college. Friends told the News that a group of students had taken the drug and split up just before the fall.
A family friend in Simmons's native Tempe, Ariz., said that Simmons is survived by his parents and two sisters, 20 and 9 years old.
"He was a good kid -- my daughters played with him all the time and he was happy," said Harry O'Neill, Simmons's neighbor for 16 years, through tears. "He had only been in New York and away from his family for a few months. He was really the nicest and most outgoing kid."
CAR FLIPS OVER IN QUEENS - NO INJURIES
On Sunday, November 7, 2010 an unidentified woman was trying to make a U-turn and ended up upside down. She was briefly trapped in her black SUV yesterday after a car smashed into her on Jamaica Avenue in Queens, flipping her vehicle, police said.
But by the time cops arrived at the scene on the corner of Woodhaven Boulevard shortly before 4 p.m., the SUV driver had already been helped out of the vehicle, authorities said. Amazingly, neither driver was seriously injured, police said.
Both were taken to the hospital and were in stable condition.
A passenger in the SUV was also treated at the scene.
According to one witness, the SUV driver, whom police did not identify, was attempting to make the U-turn when the second car blew through a light.
Police said no charges would be filed or summonses issued.
CPSC Also Recommends Consumers Test Their Homes' Electrical Safety Equipment
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Attorney)
When you move your clocks one hour forward this weekend, remember to change the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms too. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) urges consumers to make a habit of replacing smoke and CO alarm batteries when the time changes. Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday, November 7 this year.
"Properly working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms can save lives by alerting you to a fire or to poisonous carbon monoxide in your home," said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. "In order to work properly, alarms need fresh batteries at least once every year."
In addition to changing batteries every year, CPSC recommends consumers test their alarms monthly. Place smoke alarms on every level of the home, outside sleeping areas and inside each bedroom. CO alarms should be installed on each level of the home and outside sleeping areas. CO alarms should not be installed in attics or basements unless they include a sleeping area. Combination smoke and CO alarms are available to consumers.
Fire departments responded to an estimated 385,100 residential fires nationwide that resulted in an estimated 2,470 civilian deaths, 12,600 injuries and $6.43 billion in property losses annually, on average, from 2005 through 2007.
Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless, poisonous gas that consumers cannot see or smell. An average of 181 unintentional non-fire CO poisoning deaths occurred annually associated with consumer products, including portable generators, from 2004 through 2006.
CPSC is sponsoring a nationwide carbon monoxide poster contest to increase awareness about the dangers of CO in the home. The poster contest is open to all middle school students in grades 6, 7 and 8 through December 31. Each of nine finalists will receive $250 in prize money. The grand prize winner will be awarded an additional $500. More information about the contest is available at www.challenge.gov/cpsc. Encourage your middle school student to participate.
CPSC also urges consumers to test electrical outlets in their homes that are equipped with ground fault circuit interrupters, also called GFCIs or GFIs. A GFCI is an inexpensive electrical device that can be installed in a home's electrical system to protect against severe or fatal electric shocks. If you don't have GFCIs, have them installed by a qualified electrician.
Test the GFCI after installation, at least once every month, after a power failure and according to the manufacturer's instructions.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Attorney)
On Monday November 1, 2010 a BMW S.U.V. mowed down 13 year-old Sarah Parris of Brooklyn, who wanted to become a nurse, as she and two friends crossed Rockaway Parkway in the middle of the block near Avenue J when she was hit by a white BMW at around 7:50 a.m., police said.
The BMW went on to hit a parked Nissan.
The high school student was thrown into the air. She was taken to Brookdale Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
"I just saw her laying on the street and blood," said a sobbing Akili Charles, 14, one of the two friends with Sarah, who described her friend as "cool with everybody."
"If you're sad or something, she'd come and talk to you," Akili said.
The distraught pal said a passing school-bus driver had spotted the girls trying to cross the street, and put out its stop sign to help them make it safely to the other side, but the BMW "kept going."
The car's driver, Mohamed Diakite, 35, of Philadelphia, has not been charged, sources said.
Police said there was no evidence of criminality.
Sarah lived with her mother, Brenda Parris, and brother, David Clarke, 22.
The teen's grieving mom, surrounded by family members at her sister's home, said, "I think I'm in a dream. I keep thinking they'll call and tell me my daughter is OK and she's going to wake up."
She said her only daughter was to turn 14 next month and they were planning a special trip to Pennsylvania.
Clarke said his little sister "was a beautiful person, always smiling, and she didn't let anyone bring her down."
The teen loved the Twilight saga and adored the late Michael Jackson, and "every night she'd sing all his songs," he said.
She was very bright, very energetic and a prankster "whose weapon of choice was a stink bomb," her brother said.
City Councilman Charles Barron, who met with family members, said Sarah's relatives are "hoping that something positive can come out of this."
"Maybe speed bumps in front of every school to slow drivers down and hopefully send a message if you come near a school, slow down, no matter what the situation is," he said.
"There's her blood and sneaker and a paper in the street."
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Lawyer)
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) wants parents of trick-or-treaters to know that there is nothing scary about preventing Halloween-related injuries. By taking a few simple safety precautions when selecting costumes and Halloween decorations, consumers can prevent burn, fall and laceration injuries.
Parents who make their kids' costumes can send off their little ghosts, goblins and superheroes safely by using inherently flame-resistant fabrics, such as polyester and nylon. These materials will resist burning if exposed to an open flame. When purchasing a costume, look for "Flame Resistant" on the product's tag or packaging
Lighting the night also is made safer when children have no access to open flames. Flameless candles, light sticks and flashlights provide a safe lighting alternative in jack-o'-lanterns and areas where children will have access.
"Uncovering Halloween's hidden dangers is simple with CPSC's safety steps," said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. "Thoughtful costume selection, care with candles and careful placement of decorations and lighting will help ensure your Halloween is safe and enjoyable."
In addition to providing safety tips, the CPSC works to keep children and families safe during the holiday celebration by enforcing the Flammable Fabrics Act and recalling hazardous costumes and products at Halloween and throughout the year.
Make this year's holiday a safe one by following these safety tips on costumes, treats and decorations:
Costumes
When purchasing costumes, masks, beards and wigs, look for flame-resistant fabrics such as nylon or polyester, or look for the label "Flame Resistant." Flame-resistant fabrics will resist burning and should extinguish quickly. To minimize the risk of contact with candles and other fire sources, avoid costumes made with flimsy materials and outfits with big, baggy sleeves, large capes or billowing skirts.
Purchase or make costumes that are light colored, bright and clearly visible to motorists.
For greater visibility during dusk and darkness, decorate or trim costumes with reflective tape that will glow in the beam of a car's headlights. Bags or sacks also should be light-colored or decorated with reflective tape. Reflective tape is usually available in hardware, bicycle and sporting goods stores.
Children should carry flashlights to see and be seen.
To guard against trips and falls, costumes should fit well and not drag on the ground.
Children should wear well-fitting, sturdy shoes. Oversized high heels are not a good idea.
Tie hats and scarves securely to prevent them from slipping over children's eyes and obstructing their vision.
If your child wears a mask, make sure it fits securely, provides adequate ventilation, and has eye holes large enough to allow full vision.
Swords, knives and similar costume accessories should be made of soft, flexible material.
Treats
Warn children not to eat any treats before an adult has examined them carefully for evidence of tampering.
Carefully examine any toys or novelty items received by trick-or-treaters younger than three years of age. Do not allow young children to have any items that are small enough to present a choking hazard or that have small parts or components that could separate during use and present a choking hazard.
Decorations
Keep candles and jack-o'-lanterns away from landings and doorsteps where costumes could brush against the flame.
Remove obstacles from lawns, steps and porches when expecting trick-or-treaters.
Indoors, keep candles and jack-o'-lanterns away from curtains, decorations and other items that could ignite. Do not leave burning candles unattended.
Indoors or outside, use only decorative light strands that have been tested for safety by a recognized testing laboratory. Check each set of lights, new or old, for broken or cracked sockets, frayed or bare wires, or loose connections. Discard damaged sets.
Don't overload extension cords.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Attorney)
IN A QUEENS GROCERY STORE
An elderly motorist plowed her Mercedes-Benz into a Queens grocery yesterday, mowing down a customer and giving everyone else in the store the scare of their lives.
"It was like a gust of air went past my face," said Barbara Vanagas, a cashier at Mazur's Kosher Market on Horace Harding Boulevard in Little Neck.
"We heard a crash and I turned around," said Vanagas, who watched in horror as the Mercedes E350 knocked down a 54-year-old woman at Vanagas' register at about 3:45 p.m.
Rescuers lifted the car off the victim, and took her to North Shore-Long Island Jewish Hospital in Manhasset, where she was listed in critical but stable condition, police said.
The driver, said to be in her 80s, was also taken to North Shore for observation, said police. She was not charged.
IN A QUEENS STREET
A 3-year-old girl was fighting for her life last night after she, her mother and brother, were struck by a car as they crossed a Queens street.
He said the little girl was put on a respirator.
Another witness, Venkada Seshu, said, "It was painful to see how the mother cried. I was just praying that the girl be safe."
Nilay's mother and 5-year-old brother, Arman, suffered less serious injuries and were treated at Jamaica Hospital
The Jaguar driver, whose name was withheld, was not charged.
"God help me! God help me!" Nussat Anjum Zaman, 26, cried out as she cradled daughter Nilay's head after the accident on 101st Avenue in Woodhaven, said witness José Torres.
"The other child was just lying there crying."
Nilay suffered head and chest trauma and was rushed to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition.
She was later transferred to New York Hospital, said her uncle, Arifuz Zaman.
"If you push her with a finger, she will fall," he said. "Imagine her getting hit by a car."
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Lawyer)
Comment: Do you think we need more laws? Do we need to add more crimes to those our society always recognizes? How do you get a law rammed through the New York State Legislature -- just name it after cute dead children.
Hayley and Diego's Law, which went into effect last week, is named after two children who were struck and killed by a runaway van in Chinatown in January 2009.
Some genius politicians thought it would make for good sound bites and campaign rhetoric to criminalize behavior that is usually just a motor vehicle accident. Not that we don't already have laws to protect against drugged or drunk driving.
Let's briefly review. There are the usual DWI laws, linked to blood alcohol level so that the higher the blood alcohol level of the offender, the more serious the charge.
There is criminally negligent homicide, if need be.
There is the new Leandra's Law which took effect on December 18, 2009, and which makes drunk driving with a child in your car a felony. I think that this is a good law and I like it.
Leandra's Law also provides that any driver convicted of drunk driving will be ordered to install and maintain an ignition interlock device on his or her car or truck. This means that convicted drunk drivers will have to pay to install a gizmo that locks their ignition while they blow air into an attached tube. If they're sober, the car starts. For more details, see my December 30, 2009 blawg on this subject.
On Saturday, February 13, 2010, off-duty police officer Raphael Ospina was driving while drunk. His car clipped a garbage truck, jumped the curb, struck a tree and a garbage can, flipped over and smacked into the front of New York's famous Tiffany store on Fifth Avenue. Ospina, a N.Y.C. cop since 2004, was charged with DWI and vehicular assault and was suspended without pay. As demonstrated by my blawg, there was a drunk driving law to fit this situation.
Jacob Chubalashvili, age 17, took a friend's Mercedes without permission. He was speeding on the Grand Central Parkway service road ran a red light and hit an Acura, bouncing it into a pole. The Acura was crumbled and split in half. Killed instantly were two people in the Acura, a married couple in their fifties. Chubalashvili faced multiple charges, including second-degree manslaughter, driving without a license, speeding, and running a red light. More about this tragedy on my blawg:
http://blog.garyrosenberg-law.com/2008/08/stoned_teenage_driver_borrows.html
Careless drivers whose actions hurt or kill pedestrians and cyclists could now face prison time under a new law. Hayley Ng and Diego Martinez were returning from daycare when an idling van that was parked without its emergency brake engaged careened in reverse down a busy street.
The van's driver was never charged. The law carries a penalty of up to 15 days in jail for drivers who kill or hurt "vulnerable roadway users." The amended statute can be found at Section 1146 of the N.Y.S. Vehicle and Traffic Law.
But do we really want to criminalize behavior that may best described as "stupidity"?
According to the public interest group, Transportation Alternatives, "This legislation closes a loophole in New York's current law that allows a driver who has caused injury or death to avoid punishment. Under this amendment, drivers who act in a manner that endangers or would be likely to endanger a pedestrian or cyclist thereby causing physical injury or death shall be guilty of a traffic infraction." Since TA has a well-known bias anti-car and in favor of bicycle riders and pedestrians, its position is not surprising. But again I wonder, should we, as a matter of public policy, make criminals out of dumb or careless, but sober, drivers?
Do we really need to "fill the gap" between a traffic ticket and a charge of criminally negligent homicide, as suggested by one of the bill's sponsors, New York State Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh?
Sorry, Dear Readers, I'm not buying it.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Lawyer)
FIRST:
A woman jogging along Manhattan's West Side Highway was jabbed by the handlebar of a passing bicyclist after the two collided in a crosswalk, according to authorities and witnesses.
The handlebar punctured the 54-year-old victim's arm in the noontime collision today near Laight Street in TriBeCa, said an FDNY spokesman.
"People were standing around trying to get the bicycle loose," said Julia Martin, 70, who was riding her bike when she came upon the accident.
The victim called 911 and responding firefighters were able to free the woman, said a source.
The jogger was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she is listed in stable condition.
The cyclist was uninjured and not charged in the incident, the source added.
SECOND:
Two eagle-eyed medics helped catch a hit-and-run motorist who struck a bicyclist and parked car in Greenwich Village yesterday, sources said.
The New York City EMTs, Rodolfo Seddio and Frank Laino Jr., got the plate number from the car that fled the 9 a.m. crash on Hudson Street, near West 12th Street -- and called cops, who arrested the driver when they spotted the vehicle later on the Lower East Side.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Accident Attorney)
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with Fisher-Price announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer products. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.
1. Recall of Little People Wheelies Stand 'n Play Rampway Due to Choking Hazard
Name of Product: Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies Stand 'n Play Rampway
Units: About 100,000 in the U.S. and 20,000 in Canada
Incidents/Injuries: Fisher-Price has received two reports of a wheel detaching from a vehicle. No injuries have been reported.
Importer: Fisher-Price of East Aurora, New York
Hazard: The wheels on the purple and the green cars can come off, posing an accidental choking hazard to young children.Description: The recall involves Little People Wheelies Stand 'n Play Rampway with model numbers T4261 and V6378. They were sold with small cars that a child can push down winding ramps. Only the purple and the green cars that are marked "Mexico" and do not have a yellow dot on the bottom are included in the recall. The toy is intended for children 1 1/2 to 5 years of age.
Sold at: Mass merchandise stores nationwide from April 2010 through September 2010 for about $45.
Manufactured in: Mexico
Remedy: Consumers should immediately take the affected purple and the green cars away from children and contact Fisher-Price for free replacement cars.
2. Recall of Healthy Care, Easy Clean and Close to Me High Chairs Due to Laceration Hazard
Name of Product: Healthy Care, Easy Clean and Close to Me High Chairs
Units: About 950,000 high chairs in the U.S. and 125,000 in Canada
Importer: Fisher-Price, of East Aurora, New York
Hazard: Children can fall on or against the pegs on the rear legs of the high chair resulting in accidents, injuries or lacerations. The pegs are used for high chair tray storage.
Incidents/Injuries: CPSC and Fisher-Price are aware of 14 reports of incidents, including seven reports of children requiring stitches and one tooth injury. One of these incidents was reported in Canada.
Description: This recall involves the Healthy Care, Easy Clean and Close to Me High Chairs with pegs on the back legs intended for tray storage. The high chairs have a folding frame for storage and a three-position reclining seat. The model number and date code of the high chair is on the back of the seat. All Easy Clean and Close To Me High Chairs are included in this recall. Only Healthy Care High Chairs manufactured before December 2006 are included in the recall. If the fourth digit in the date code is 6 or less, the Healthy Care High Chair is included in the recall.
Sold at: Mass merchandise retail stores nationwide from September 2001 through September 2010 for between about $70 and $115.
Remedy: Consumers should stop using the High Chair immediately and contact Fisher-Price for instructions and a free repair kit.
3. Recall of Infant Toys with Inflatable Balls Due to Choking Hazard
Name of Products: Baby Playzone™ Crawl & Cruise Playground™, Baby Playzone™ Crawl & Slide Arcade™, Baby Gymtastics™ Play Wall, Ocean Wonders™ Kick & Crawl™ Aquarium (C3068 and H8094), 1-2-3 Tetherball™, Bat & Score Goal™
Units: About 2.8 million in the US and about 125,000 in Canada
Importer: Fisher-Price, of East Aurora, New York
Hazard: The valve of the inflatable ball on these toys can come off and pose an accidental choking hazard to young children.
Incidents/Injuries: CPSC and Fisher-Price are aware of 46 reports of incidents where the valve came off in the US and eight reports in Canada. These include 14 reports of the valve found in a child's mouth and three reports of a child beginning to choke. No injuries have been reported.Manufactured in: Baby Playzone™ Crawl & Cruise Playground™, Baby Playzone™ Crawl & Slide Arcade™ and Baby Gymtastics™ Play Wall were made in Mexico. The Ocean Wonders™ Kick & Crawl™ Aquarium, 1-2-3 Tetherball™ and Bat & Score Goal™ were made in China.
Remedy: Consumers should immediately remove the inflatable ball from the product and keep away from children. Do not discard the inflatable ball. Contact Fisher-Price for a free replacement kit.
4. Recall of Children's Trikes Due to Risk of Serious Injury
Name of Product: Fisher Price Trikes and Tough Trikes toddler tricycles
Units: About 7 Million in the United States and 150,000 in Canada.
Manufacturer: Fisher-Price Inc., of East Aurora, New York
Hazard: A child can strike, sit or fall on the protruding plastic ignition key resulting in serious injury, including genital bleeding.
Incidents/Injuries: CPSC and Fisher-Price are aware of 10 reports of incidents resulting in injury. Six of the incidents required medical attention after young girls, ages two to three years old, fell against or on the protruding disc-shaped and D-shaped pretend key.
Description: This recall involves the Fisher-Price Trikes and Tough Trikes toddler tricycles with model numbers listed in the chart below and that have either a disc-shaped or D-shaped pretend key. The model numbers are located under the seat in the storage compartment. The trikes are intended for children 2 to 5 years of age. The pretend keys are located about 3 inches in front of the seat and protrude at least 5/8 inches above the trike's body. The trikes manufactured after June 16, 2010 are not included in this recall. These trikes have a modified key in a flattened D shape (see picture below) and a manufacturer run number higher than 1670Q2. The run number indicates the trike was manufactured on the 167th day of 2010 or on June 16, 2010. The run number is found under the seat below the model number.
Sold at: Mass merchandise stores nationwide from January 1997 through September 2010 for about $25.Manufactured in: Mexico
Remedy: Consumers should immediately place the trikes out of children's reach and contact Fisher-Price for a free replacement key.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Attorney)
BICYCLIST INJURED BY TRUCK
On Friday, October 8, 2010, a tractor trailer slammed into a bicyclist in Brooklyn.
The 21-year-old woman was riding peddling westbound on Johnson Avenue at 9:40 a.m. when she was struck by the trailer, which was making a right turn onto Varick Avenue in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.
The victim was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where she was listed in critical condition. The accident victim's name was not released.
Police did not charge the driver, described as a 35-year-old man.
CAR JUMPS SIDEWALK; NO ONE HURT
On Friday, October 8, 2010 the driver of a gray Infiniti lost control, cut off a black Lincoln town car, and smashed into some scaffolding near the Essex House and Hampshire House hotels by Manhattan's Central Park South. The accident took place at around 10:00 P.M.
Both drivers refused medical attention and no summonses were issued, police said.
HIT AND RUN CAR KILLS PEDESTRIAN IN BROOKLYN
25-year-old Manuel Tzajguachiac had come to Brooklyn about six months ago to raise cash from various jobs he was doing to send back to his wife and family in Guatemala. He was struck and killed around 12:30 a.m. Sunday, October 10, 2010 at the intersection of 65th Street and 20th Avenue in Bensonhurst by a dark-colored SUV that fled the scene.
The driver fled the scene.
Police found the vehicle hours later, and took the owner in for questioning. He was not charged with any crime, and was let go.
The victim was pronounced dead at Lutheran Hospital.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Accident Lawyer)
Thursday evening, October 7, 2010, a 4-year-old boy was |
