Two Fatal Hit & Run Accidents in Queens, NY Raise Legal Questions
A Queens man was hit early Mother’s Day morning while crossing Liberty Avenue at 108th Street, according to NY1.com. Police are still searching for the vehicle responsible for his death as his family grapples with the sudden loss.
Forty-seven year old Rohan Singh was struck by a dark-colored sedan as he crossed the street. The vehicle sent him into a metal girder, according to reports. His brother, who had to identify the body, pleaded for people to come forward if they saw anything.
Ironically, another man is facing charges for killing a pedestrian on Greenpoint Avenue in Sunnyside. The suspect was driving drunk when he jumped the curb and hit 24-year old Gabriel Hernandez. He allegedly tried to walk away from the scene before witnesses stopped and detained him.
Hit and run cases pose unique challenges to accident victims, and their families when they are killed. Continue reading
Bronx River Parkway Crash Raises Road Safety Concerns
The van carrying seven family members that died in last week’s Bronx Zoo crash was traveling with traffic. It may have been going 68 mph in a 50 mph zone, but that’s how 
fast traffic moves in that area. The accident has raised safety concerns among officials and New York motorists alike, bringing attention to the “aging highway system,” according to the Washington Post.
“The Bronx River Parkway is a glaring example of the deficiencies we see on area roadways,” said Robert Sinclair, a spokesman for the American Automobile Association. “These roads were never envisioned as being the commuter arterial roadways that they are now. The roads are twisty. They are hilly. The lanes are narrow. There are no breakdown lanes. The on-ramps are too short.”
Despite these facts, the roads of New York City are said to be far less deadly than other systems throughout the country. The Department of Transportation says that 243 people died in NYC accidents in 2011, the least amount in over 100 years. North Carolina, a state with about the same number of people as NYC, averages around 1,300 fatalities per year.
Experts say that rural roads or those without much traffic are the deadliest. Continue reading
Boat Accident Near Perth Amboy Kills 1, Injures 4
A New Brunswick man is dead after the boat he was on capsized off the coast of Staten Island, near Perth Amboy. The drowning is said to have been a “tragic accident,” according to one NYPD source speaking to The Star-Ledger.
The pleasure boat was carrying 5 people. It’s believed the anchor got caught, capsizing the boat, according to authorities.
Three men and one woman, the only one wearing a life-jacket, were treated and released at Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy. But Mario Baredales was dead when the rescue mission began.
According to another report from the Star-Ledger, the boat passengers were rescued by another civilian vessel who happened upon the capsized boat quite by accident.
David Gross, who was piloting his own sport fishing boat, changed his route when the swells in the Verrazano Narrows looked a little rough for his aging mother-in-law who was on board. He altered his course into Raritan Bay when he saw four people waving in the water, one of them grasping the lifeless body of their friend. Continue reading
42nd Street Accident Injures 10, Including Pedestrians
An accident on 42nd Street and 6th Avenue this past weekend sent several people to the hospital, including several pedestrians. The accident shows how dangerous it can be, even just to walk the sidewalks in New York City.
According to CBS New York, the accident was triggered when a Jaguar, traveling at a high rate of speed, crashed into the back of an Impala, stopped at a red light. Then, the Jag hit a cab before jumping the sidewalk and mowing several people down.
Witnesses said it appeared as though the taxi turned over on its side and hit a tree, causing the roof to be “shaved” off of the vehicle.
Reports are conflicting but at least three people from the vehicles are listed in critical condition, while three pedestrians are listed in serious condition. According to the NY Times, at least two people at the scene refused medical treatment.
One witness, who had been reading in the nearby Bryant Park when the accident occurred, said he ran over to the scene after hearing the crash. There he found people lying on the sidewalks “screaming for help.” Continue reading
Fatal Car Accident Claims 3 Lives in Phelps
Three people were killed in a tragic accident early this week. A 65- and 66-year old husband and wife duo, along with their 55-year old passenger were all pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Another motorist is in critical condition.
The accident occurred on County Road 6 near the town of Phelps, 50 miles West of Syracuse, according to the Times Union. George Halbfinger, with his wife and friend in the car, pulled onto Route 6 where his car was hit by a southbound vehicle.
It isn’t clear who is at fault for the accident as investigations are likely still underway. But the speed required to instantly kill three people would indicate that perhaps Route 6 traffic had the right of way and no duty to stop at that particular intersection. Halbfinger may have turned in front of the oncoming vehicle, who hit him on the driver’s side. Continue reading
Increased Penalties for Faking Auto Accidents
The state Senate passed legislation to crack down on auto insurance fraud this week, just after a fraud ring was busted for faking accidents and reaping the financial rewards through insurance companies. The legislation will create a new felony law, making it a serious crime to stage an auto accident. Conviction under the law will warrant up to 7 years in prison.
Insurance fraud is said to cost the people of New York more than $1 billion each year. And it isn’t just people staging accidents that get in on the action. According to the NY Daily News, the Department of Financial Services has “launched a crackdown” on medical professionals that also take part in the fraudulent schemes.
The Department sent letters to 135 doctors in the NYC area after their billing practices “raised red flags”. To substantiate those bills being submitted to insurance companies for reimbursement, the agency requested supporting documentation from the doctors, proving the bills were legitimate. Continue reading
80-Year Old Man Hits School Bus, Bicycle and Range Rover
Bensonhurst was the scene of multiple auto accidents last week as an 80-year old man not only hit a school bus, but went on to hit a bicyclist and a Range Rover truck before coming to a stop. Tommy Saladino was taken to the hospital but is expected to be arrested and charged with leaving the scene of an accident.
Saladino allegedly hit a school bus and kept driving. It wasn’t until he hit a bicycle and Range Rover that his black Mercedes was stopped on 73rd Street near 18th Avenue.
A sixty-three year old bicyclist was thrown onto the windshield of a parked car after being hit by Saladino. He lost his helmet and shoes and rolled from on top of the vehicle to the sidewalk. According to the NY Daily News, he was in cardiac arrest when he was transported to Maimonides Hospital.
Saladino is the owner of Continental Shoes, also on 18th Avenue. He had hit a school bus and was driving away when the bicycle accident happened. While he would have normally only been charged with hit and run, he will now face the consequences of the other two collisions as well. Continue reading
Minor Injuries After Brooklyn Bus Accident
A city bus and a meals-on-wheels van made for a big mess when they collided in Brooklyn early this week. According to the Daily News, the van registered to the Jewish Association Servicing the Aging, ran a red light and hit a passenger car, forcing the bus to swerve and subsequently hit a building.
The accident happened on the corner of Avenue J and Ocean Ave. in Midwood just before 10 a.m. Monday morning. The bus was eastbound on Avenue J when it was forced to swerve to miss the van and collided with an apartment building. The van ended up on its side in the middle of the intersection.
Fortunately, no pedestrians were struck at the intersection and no residents of the apartment building were injured.
Twelve people, from the multiple vehicles, were transported to Kings County Hospital, Maimonides Hospital and Lutheran Medical Center with minor injuries according to police at the scene. Continue reading
FedEx Truck “Slams” Amish Buggy, Kids Hurt
Near the Canadian border, in the far northern region of the state, it’s not unusual to see Amish buggies. It appears one FedEx driver wasn’t aware of this, however, striking a buggy from behind and seriously injuring the passengers.
According to the Washington Post, the accident happened in the town of Massena on Route 37. Two women and four children were riding in the buggy at the time. As you might expect, a few of them were serious injured simply because such buggies don’t provide the safety of modern automobiles.
One of the mothers is being treated for a possible spinal injury, and two 3-year old children remain in critical condition. The other passengers were treated and released. The driver of the FedEx truck and his coworker passenger were not injured.
At the time of the Washington Post article, the accident was still under investigation. Nearly all rear-end accidents are deemed to be the fault of the accident that was in the rear, however, and it seems there are no indications that the buggy passengers played a role in causing the accident.
Despite how cut and dry an auto accident might seem, the police and insurance companies will each have to do their own investigations. Sometimes their findings don’t jibe with one another, creating a conflict often sorted out by attorneys in a personal injury claim. Continue reading
Brooklyn Ring Faked Accidents, Collected Thousands
Sixteen people are facing charges after bilking the insurance industry out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Their crime? Faking auto accidents to collect money for injuries. The group is facing a multitude of crimes and several years in prison for their alleged frauds.
The fraudulent activity is said to have begun in 2009, according to the Insurance Journal. It was then that the group of 16 began causing accidents or faking accidents to get paid. They would hit unsuspecting drivers or get in accidents with each other to take advantage of the No-Fault insurance coverage.
No-Fault insurance allows people involved in accidents to collect up to $50,000 for injuries. In addition, following an accident, injured parties can file lawsuits, something the suspected fraudsters did as well.
In some of the cases, the suspects rented U-Haul trucks and crashed them into livery cabs. They would have one of their codefendants hail the cab and the other crash into them as they slowed. Another scheme they used was walking into vehicles or slapping the vehicle, claiming they were hit.
The sixteen are facing charges like insurance fraud, falsifying business records, grand larceny, and misdemeanor conspiracy. In all, they made off with over $400,000. Continue reading
Glaucoma May Increase Likelihood of Car Accidents
“There may be a segment of the glaucoma population, but certainly not all, that has an elevated MVC (motor vehicle crash) rate because of their disease.” This according to Cynthia Owsley, PhD, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Department of Opthamology. Dr. Owsley reporting the findings of a recently released study on the increased chance of glaucoma sufferers to be involved in an auto accident.
In addition to stating that patients with moderate to severe glaucoma are more at risk for accidents, the study also states they are more likely to incur accident-related injuries than drivers with healthy vision.
The researchers didn’t only compile research from the Department of Motor Vehicle’s crash data, but actually analyzed the on-road driving performance of patients by conducting driving exams.
Recruiting participants for the study was difficult, according to the researchers, not only because the standards were very particular—they were required to be at least 55, have visual acuity of 20/70 in at least one eye, be a licensed driver, and not have undergone any procedures that could affect their driving—but because many potential participants were concerned they could lose their license if their driving was subpar during research examinations. As such, of 86 people who were eligible, 64 of them declined to participate. Continue reading
Bronx Home Scene of Frequent Car Accidents
A home located on a busy corner in the Bronx was hit by a taxi a few weeks ago. But according to the NY Times, such car accidents are par for the course for the home owner, and he doesn’t plan on moving.
Steven Campbell bought the 1915 two-story home in 1989, and since then it has been twice hit by vehicles. “You could go anywhere and get hit by a car,” he says in justifying his decision to remain in the car-accident-prone home.
The home is located on Taylor Avenue at the corner of Wood Avenue. It’s a five corner intersection, shared with East 174th street, a four-lane road with a median. In short, there’s no shortage of traffic.
In the taxi accident that most recently occurred, the cab swerved to avoid another vehicle and sped through the Taylor-Wood intersection before jumping the curb in front of Mr. Campbell’s home. It hit a parked van and post and then mowed down Campbell’s white metal fence before smashing through the empty garage door. Fortunately, no one was injured. Mr. Campbell was not home at the time. Continue reading