New York Personal Injury News & NYC Legal Current Events

Unfortunately, accidents and injuries happen every day in New York City and the surrounding area. Keep up to date with the latest news and information regarding accidents, injuries, and injury lawsuits in New York by reading our regularly updated NYC legal news items.

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Car Accidents

• Car Crash in New Zealand Kills College Student from Brooklyn
  May 17, 2012

  A young woman from Brooklyn was one of three Boston University students killed in a van accident in New Zealand. The 20-year-old woman, Daniela Lekhno, was a junior at Boston University studying business. Lekhno was participating in a study abroad program and on a local tour to visit sites highlighted in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
  
  Four other students were injured in the crash – one critically. That student is currently in intensive care in a New Zealand hospital after surgery to treat undisclosed injuries. The other two students who were killed were Austin Brashears, 21, from Huntington Beach, California, and Roch Jauberty, 21, of Paris. The students were riding in a minivan, on their way to Tongariro Crossing when the accident occurred.
  
  Witnesses Said Driver Drifted, Overcorrected
  Students were traveling in a caravan of three minivans on the tour. Witnesses in another van stated that the white van carrying the Brooklyn student and six others drifted into the gravel area on the side of the road. The driver appeared to overcompensate for the drift, causing the minivan into a violent barrel roll, according to a report at the New York Daily News.
  
  A New Zealand police official, Kevin Taylor, told ABC Local that it was unclear why the van drifted. New Zealand police spokesman Kim Perks also stated that any suggestion in regards to the cause of the crash would be purely speculation at this point. However, officials are investigating the accident and driver error will be a factor to be considered.
  
  

• Analysis: The Dangers of Motorcycles
  May 10, 2012

  Motorcycles have enjoyed a new phase of popularity in recent years, as rising gas prices have inspired many commuters to turn to a less expensive option. While it is true that motorcycles may boast two or three times the MPG that cars and SUVs can get, the dangers associated with these two-wheeled vehicles may make some drivers think twice about turning to motorcycles as an alternative means of transportation.
  
  Statistics Paints a Scary Picture
  For those considering a motorcycle as their next vehicle, an exploration of some basic statistics might be in order. According to a report at the Journal, there are an estimated 5,200 motorcycle accidents across the state of New York each year, with around 179 deaths included in that number. More than 300 people in the Lower Hudson Valley are hurt in motorcycle accidents each year and 11 die, according to statistics from the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles.
  
  Prevention Not Always Enough
  There are some ways motorcycle drivers can protect themselves from serious injuries in the event of an accident, including proper headgear, armored jackets, riding pants, gloves and boots. However, while the equipment might save a driver from brain trauma or road rash in some situations, it is often not sufficient from saving a driver from serious injury, or even death, if an accident does occur.
  
  Even experienced motorcycle drivers find that road conditions, animals and weather can create unexpected obstacles on the driving course. Preparedness and experience are key components to handling these events, but additional caution is also a necessity for protecting drivers of two-wheeled vehicles from harm.
  

• Teen Dies in SUV Crash in Duchess County
  May 08, 2012

  An accident involving a single SUV in Duchess County claimed the life of one 16-year-old boy this week. The Ford Explorer flipped over a guard rail on Clinton Corners Road and fell into the Wappingers Creek. The teen passenger was taken to Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie, where he was pronounced dead. The driver of the vehicle was also taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries.
  
  Sharp Curve Accounted for Vehicle’s Loss of Control
  According to a report at the Journal, the vehicle failed to negotiate a sharp curve on Clinton Corners Road. The SUV skirted along the guard rail until it hit a concrete embankment. It then flipped over the rail and fell approximately 20 feet, landing top down in around five feet of water in the creek.
  
  “There was clearly a failure to negotiate the curve, that much we know,” Sgt. Michael Dampf told the Journal.
  
  Rescue workers said that when they arrived on the scene, the 42-year-old driver and uncle of the passenger had released himself from the vehicle and was trying to rescue his nephew. Rescue workers turned the vehicle over and extracted the teenager through a window. CPR was performed on the teen at the scene, before he was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
  
  Syracuse.com reports that the accident, which occurred about 80 miles north of New York City, was currently under investigation. Officials are not sure why the vehicle lost control at the curve, but will examine the possibility that high speeds, distraction or other factors contributed to the crash.
  

• Fatal Crash on Bronx River Parkway
  May 03, 2012

  A tragic crash on the Bronx River Parkway has left seven people dead – all from the same family. The crash occurred shortly after noon on Sunday, April 29. Authorities have reported that an SUV carrying six passengers and the driver crossed three lanes of traffic before flying over a guardrail and falling 100 feet into an unused area of the Bronx Zoo.
  
  The deceased family members have all been identified and include Jacob Nunez (85), his wife Ana Julia Nunez (81), their daughters Maria Gonzales (45 – driver) and Maria Nunez (39), Jocelyn Gonzalez (10 – daughter of Gonzales), Niely Rosario (7) and Marly Rosario (3), both daughters of Nunez.
  
  The family was riding in Gonzales’ Honda pilot, when the SUV bumped the median and damaged a tire. The vehicle then crossed three lanes of traffic and flew over a four-foot guardrail, landing upside down 100 feet below. There is speculation that Gonzales might have been speeding; however she may have simply been keeping up with traffic on that portion of the highway.
  
  The American Automobile Association’s New York affiliate told NBC New York that a curb along the guardrail might have contributed to the crash.
  
  “It’s very strange that there is a curb there,” AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair told NBC. “You don’t put curbs on high-speed roadways because they can serve as launching pads, which appears to be what happened here. A big Honda pilot flew over a four-foot guardrail.”
  
  Investigators are taking a closer look at the circumstances leading up to the accident to determine whether a more precise cause of the crash can be identified.  
  

• Driver Injured, Hospitalized After Hitting Tree in New York City
  Apr 24, 2012

  A 58-year-old New York resident is recovering from serious injuries, after crashing his car into a tree in a residential yard. The driver was driving a 2003 Lincoln Town car down Shetland Lane in the middle of the afternoon, when his vehicle suddenly strayed from the road and smashed head-on into a large tree at the corner of Hessian Place.
  
  The driver of the car was unconscious when rescue personnel arrived at the scene. Debris from the car was strewn about the yard of the two-story home where the accident occurred.
  
  Rescue workers pulled the driver from the wreckage, after removing the driver-side door of the vehicle to extract him. The man, whose name has not been released, was taken to a local hospital for treatment of head and back injuries.
  
  Tree Collisions Not Uncommon
  Accidents like this one are rather common events. Trees are one of the most common sources of fixed object collisions and are responsible for eight percent of all traffic fatalities each year. Two of those fatalities occurred in the New York area in recent months.
  
  An accident that occurred in March involved a New York woman who died after the van she was driving sideswiped a garbage truck and hit a tree. Last fall, a driver who was speeding down the Expressway in Queens lost control of his vehicle and slammed into a tree before bursting into flames.
  
  Many of these types of accidents involve alcohol or another contributing factor. In the most recent accident on Shetland Lane, police are looking into whether a possible medical condition might have contributed to the crash.
  

• Women Killed in Fiery Crash in Westchester
  Apr 10, 2012

  A woman who was the passenger of a livery car has been killed in a fiery crash involving that car and a tractor trailer. The accident took place on Friday, April 6 at approximately 5:50 a.m., on Central Park Avenue near the ramp to the Cross County Parkway.
  
  The accident closed the New York State Thruway, northbound, for more than two hours, as firefighters worked to put out the fire and extract the woman from the crushed vehicle. The body of the woman remained trapped in the car for more than five hours after the crash, before rescue workers were finally able to extricate it.
  
  Victim is Identified
  The woman has been identified as 27-year-old Anita Williams-Eiene of the Bronx. Williams-Eiene was riding in the back of a livery car driven by 60-year-old Aboueacar Bah of the Bronx. Bah was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries after the crash.
  
  Witnesses told authorities that it appeared the livery car had overshot the exit ramp and was backing up to enter Cross County Parkway. The tractor trailer, driven by 26-year-old Jermaine James, crushed the car into the concrete divider between Cross County Parkway and the New York State Thruway. James was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and later released.
  
  Identification of Williams-Eiene’s body was not done right away, because the body was badly burned in the crash. Once the body was extricated, it was taken to a local morgue, where an autopsy was performed later that afternoon to determine whether she died in the crash or in the fire that followed.
  
  If you are involved in a car accident, get help from experienced NY car accident lawyers.
  

• NYC Accident Lawyer Reports: 2 Killed in a Motorcycle and Truck Accident
  Mar 20, 2012

  Last Sunday around 2pm, a motorcycle with 2 passengers crashed into a truck in West Monroe, New York on Route 49.  The driver of the pickup truck was turning left at an intersection on to Whig Hill Road, when the motorcycle and truck accident occurred.  When emergency crews and The Oswego County police reached the scene, the passengers on the motorcycle, Robert Hoke of Westernville and Lisa Staple of Rome, were dead. The truck driver, Carl Wells of Parish, was taken to a hospital in Syracuse with minor injuries.
  No tickets were issued and the cause of the crash is being investigated, but they did rule out alcohol and say Wells was wearing his seat belt during the crash. Neighbors of this New York location told NewsChannel 9 that they have tried to get attention to this area, which they refer to as a death trap, looking to reduce speed limits but have been unsuccessful so far.  Neighbors indicated they could hear the crash for miles away.
  

• NY Car Accident Attorney Reports: NY Mets Bullpen Catcher In Drunken Driving Crash
  Mar 15, 2012

  Eric Langill, 32 year old New York Mets bullpen catcher, was arrested last Sunday night after he lost control of his vehicle at a traffic circle in St. Lucie, Florida.  He crashed into a concrete fountain, which caused his car to flip over.  The arrest report indicates that Langill smelled strongly of alcohol and did not pass the field sobriety test, although it didn’t mention whether or not a blood-alcohol test was performed.
  St. Lucie County police arrested Langill and he was charged with DUI and property damage.  On Monday morning, he was released from jail.  The New York Mets released a statement that said they were disturbed by the arrest, and that they will “… address next steps after we sort through the facts and speak with Eric.”
  

• Mohegan Sun Tour Bus Accident Kills 14 People
  Mar 13, 2012

  As a World Wide Tours tour bus was traveling back to New York City on Interstate 95 from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, it was involved in a horrific rollover accident which ended the lives of at least 14 people. Survivors are describing the scene as carnage and severed limbs. There were 32 people on the bus when it hit a guard rail, scraped alongside the guardrail for 300 feet, turned over and was sliced end to end when the bus slammed into a large sign support pole for the Hutchinson Parkway exit.  The pole came through the front window of the bus, cutting it in half and peeling the roof off.
  It is possible that a tractor trailer was involved in this tragic accident, but it was not at the scene when police and investigators arrived.  The bus driver survived the accident and reported to police that he lost control of the bus trying to avoid a swerving tractor trailer.
  At the scene of the accident, the southbound lane of Interstate-95 was closed for hours while emergency crews removed bodies and tried to help critically injured survivors.  One of the survivors, 59 year old Chung Ninh, reported to NY1 News and The New York Times that he had been asleep in his seat at the time of impact.  He awoke and was hanging upside down from the seatbelt he had fastened prior to dozing off.  He said he was surrounded by screaming people and dead people.  He mentioned when he attempted to help one woman covered in blood, the driver said he should help someone else because she was already dead.  Ninh and passengers who were able to move, climbed out through the skylight.
  Several drivers who saw the accident or approached soon after it happened stopped and rushed to the bus to help the injured.  Many were simply horrified and telling others to stay away to avoid seeing the scene.
  

• Pedestrian Killed By Minivan in Yonkers
  Mar 08, 2012

  On March 3th, a tragic accident occurred in Yonkers where a 19 year old, Jose Najera, identified by the Westchester County Medical Examiner’s Office, was hit by a minivan around 9:30p.m. This incident happened at the corner of Nepperhan Avenue and Elm Street. Jose was brought to St. Joseph’s Medical Center and was pronounced dead.
  Yonkers police closed the Nepperhan Avenue so investigators could check out the accident scene. More than a dozen police officers and investigators taped off the area with crime scene tape and used red road flares to alert traffic of the blocked intersection. Investigators have reported that the mini van did not have much damage. The bumper of the mini van is reportedly the only area of the vehicle that shows any signs of damage.
  The driver of the mini van was taken by police to be interviewed and police said he was very shaken by the incident. Police also reported the crash appeared to be an accident and while it was still under investigation, no charges have yet been filed to the driver of the mini van.
  Around 11:40 that night, while the clean up crew and investigators were still at the scene of the car accident, another driver was arrested because they sped past the police roadblock. The person was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.