New York Injury Talk Blog

An investigation is ongoing after forty-four year-old John Rodriguez, a contract worker, died last month after being electrocuted while installing electrical cables at a Consolidated Edison power station in Queens. Rodriquez suffered a heart attack after the New York Construction Accident when he touched a highly charged cable, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens, where he was pronounced dead. Mr. Rodriquez came into contact with a live wire while attempting to disconnect a ground wire from what turned out to be a live wire. Essentially, Mr. Rodriquez became the electrical conduit when he touched the live wire.

Bob McGee, a Con Edison spokesman, declined to make a comment regarding what precautions might have been taken to avoid Rodriquez’s death. Apparently, however, Con Edison has been under some scrutiny for safety and maintenance problems because of previous deaths.

Continue reading "CONSTRUCTION WORKER DIES AFTER BEING ELECTROCUTED AT CON EDISON SITE" »

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According to the New York Times, an eight-car East-bound train uncoupled, stunning riders, during evening rush hour earlier this month. The incident, confirmed by Dan Stessel, a spokesman for the New Jersey Transit was confirmed as having happened on February 22nd, and has drawn criticism from the conductor’s union. There were more than 600 shaken passengers on the train at the time of the uncoupling, and it took an hour for workers to reattach the cars. According to the Times, the train was moving approximately five miles an hour when steel couplers which connected the second and third cars separated, leaving them several feet from one another and a potential new york train accident risk. The brakes were immediately activated, and no injuries were reported.

Couplers resemble two hands palm to palm and it appears a piece of debris hit those coupled hands with enough force to cause them to separate, although the actual debris was not identified.

The New Jersey Transit authorities instructed the crew to divert all passengers to the next stop-Newark Liberty International Airport.

According to Patrick F. Reilly, the general chairman of the United Transportation Union, which represents the 1,100 conductors who work for New Jersey Transit, the decision to restart the train with passengers still aboard, was a bad one. Reilly commented that all passengers should have immediately been removed from the train and the train taken out-of-service. Passenger Rick Smith, a 37-year-old graphics designer said, “We were just praying that we got to the next stop in one piece, without the train coming apart again.”

Continue reading "TRAIN UNCOUPLES - STUNNING RIDERS" »

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Dr. Philip Barie, the chief of the division of critical care at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan was quoted in the New York Times as saying, “If you believe in miracles, this is one.”. Dr. Barie went on to explain, “We’re talking about tiny, tiny percentages, well under 1 percent, of people who fall that distance and survive. Above 10 stories, most of the time we never see the patients because they usually go to the morgue” Dr. Barie’s quotes refer to the surprising recovery and ongoing recuperation of Alcides Moreno, a window washer who, along with his brother, plunged 47 stories from an Upper East Side apartment building last December. The fall, which killed Alcides’ brother, Edgar, happened when the scaffold on which they were standing while working as window washers gave way, plunging both men 47 stories to certain death. Three agencies continue to investigate the work related accident.

After more than sixteen operations; twenty-four pints of blood and nineteen pints of plasma, Alcides’ surgeon, Dr. John Boockvar, an assistant professor of neurological surgery at Weill Medical College of Cornell University indicated that Alcides is doing remarkably well after his latest operation to stabilize Alcides’ spinal column. This latest surgery on Alcides’ spine is meant to reduce the risk of neurological injury when Alcides again begins to walk and move about. After the fall, Alcides suffered serious injuries to his brain, his chest and his abdomen, as well as several fractured ribs, a broken arm, and two broken legs. But, amazingly, after falling 47 stories, Alcides spinal cord was intact and showed no signs of injury.

Continue reading "WINDOW WASHER SURVIVES 47 FOOT FALL FROM SCAFFOLDING" »

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In a story reported in the New York Times, Nuevo Estilo, a barber, was an unlikely hero last December when he chased down a hit and run driver of a minivan, who plowed down a man and kept going. Witnesses said the victim, 73 year-old Francisco Guerrero, was carrying several bags of groceries and was walking home when they saw the minivan hit him.

Estilo was working in a barber shop on Fourth Avenue at 52nd street when he saw the blue minivan hit the man. As Estilo chased the minivan a delivery driver followed. The Dodge Caravan minivan went on to ram into a parked car and proceeded, finally coming to a stop near 50th Street and Third Avenue - where he got out of the minivan and started running down the street. After a short chase, the hit and run driver was eventually captured by Estilo and the delivery truck driver. Police arrested the man, Lawrence Meyers, 38, and took him into custody after he was driven back to the scene by the delivery driver.

Continue reading "HIT AND RUN DRIVER KILLS ONE-CAUGHT BY NEW YORK HEROS" »

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At least seven people were killed when a large crane collapsed Saturday afternoon at a construction site on Manhattan's East Side. The crane toppled across the street and damaged three buildings, destroying a fourth. Twenty-four were reportedly injured following the devastating NY crane accident which occurred at 303 East 51st Street, near Second Avenue, at about 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 15. Ten people remained hospitalized, but the three critically injured victims were upgraded to serious condition.

Investigators said the collapse began Saturday afternoon as crews were "jumping" the crane - installing new sections on the 200-foot main tower to keep pace with what is to be a 43-story building. A six ton steel collar being fitted around the tower at the 18th floor somehow came loose and crashed down onto another collar on the ninth floor - snapping it loose from three 12-inch-wide steel beams that held it to the building. The three support beams were sheared off and with no supports remaining above the third floor, the 164-ton crane buckled to the south and snapped atop a building – sending a 75-foot section skidding over rooftops until the new york construction accident destroyed the four-story townhouse where two of the victims were standing in a kitchen.

Continue reading "Seven Dead After Devastating Crane Collapse in Manhattan" »

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The law offices of Wingate, Russotti & Shapiro have been retained by the family of Luoro Ortega, a construction worker who was crushed to death on Wednesday, March 12th at a Brooklyn work site.

According to an article in the Daily News, Mr. Ortega, 30, of Queens was literally buried alive in the NY construction accident when an excavation caused a wall to collapse on him. William Lattarulo, 62, is owner of both the house whose wall collapsed and the lot next door where construction was occurring when the construction accident occurred. Mr. Lattarulo was cited for violating multiple building codes, including working with an expired building permit, when he hired Ortega and others to excavate under the existing home in preparation for the building of a commercial property next door.

Luttarulo’s engineer, Lewis Sanchez of Sanchez Associates had lost the privilege to perform engineering jobs in the city of New York a week earlier, due to ‘questionable practices’. Sanchez had also been previously penalized when the special enforcement team of the Buildings Department found that he was allowing his business partner to use his professional stamp to submit building applications. His partner surrendered his privileges in 2002.

Continue reading "Wingate, Russotti & Shapiro Retained in Construction Worker Death Case" »

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According to the New York Times, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday in China Town that he believed it would be better for the City to settle than to litigate a 2001 New York race discrimination lawsuit filed against the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation. The class action lawsuit grew out of a flood of complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1999. Under the $20 million dollar class action settlement, the city did not have to admit wrongdoing and Mayor Bloomberg is happy to put the whole issue behind himself and City, even though the settlement must first be approved by a federal judge.

This original class action race discrimination lawsuit was brought on behalf of 11 Black and Hispanic employees, when those employees alleged that their white counterparts were paid more than them, and that if they complained they were retaliated against by being reassigned to offices a great distance from their homes or assigned to undesirable areas of buildings- like dusty basements. A second, Civil Rights lawsuit filed by the Justice Department in 2002, settled in 2005, called for sweeping changes in the promotions procedures in the parks department.

Continue reading "NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION AGREE TO PAY $20 MILLION DOLLARS TO SETTLE DISCRIMINATION SUIT" »

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The Buildings Department issued a stop-work order against contractor Bovis Lend Lease and cited the company for not securing a chain used to hoist windows. Apparently, according to the Daily News, gusts of wind up to 50 MPH were responsible for causing loose chains to crash into the side of the Trump SoHo tower-showering glass to the streets below and cracking windows, neighborhood residents remarked. Buildings Department spokeswoman, Kate Lindquist, indicated that in addition to the falling glass approximately a dozen windows were cracked and others were removed as a precautionary measure.

Executive Director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Andrew Berman said that the SoHo project has been one disaster after another. This isn’t the first problem for the Trump project, which was cited for several building code violations after a worker fell 42 stories to his death in a new york construction accident back in January.

The winds caused general chaos on several building projects within the city when the Department cautioned and closed down several projects that posed a threat to the public. Seventy-five percent of the timber and plywood formwork located on the roof of a fifteen story West Village condominium building collapsed, according the Department’s spokeswoman, Kate Lindquist.

Continue reading "TRUMP SOHO SO CURSED-‘JUST ONE DISASTER AFTER ANOTHER’" »

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According to a story published Wednesday in the New York Times, Lloyd Nicholson, a 35 year-old guard at Riker’s Island, was arrested and has been charged with gang assault, assault, and official misconduct by the Bronx district attorney’s office. This transpired after it is alleged that guard Nicholson encouraged one group of inmates to assault another group for his purpose of maintaining order and enforcing prison discipline.

The Times story reported that the charges against Nicholson are a result of his direction to six inmates to beat three other inmates-resulting in one being treated for a collapsed lung. The six inmates were charged last October in the beatings. Apparently Nicholson rewarded the inmates who followed his directions by allowing them to take personal property and telephone privileges from other inmates. It is reported that authorities have indicated that Nicholson personally beat another inmate with a stick. According to the Times article, the motive for Nicholson’s actions was apparently that it freed him up from having to monitor his assigned post during his overnight shift.

Continue reading "JAIL GUARD PROMOTES VIOLENCE" »

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When it comes to New York Auto Accidents, March is coming in like a lion! A Queen’s driver died after his car hit a guardrail on the Long Island expressway-plunging off the exit ramp and landing below in a Flushing Meadows Park where the car burst into flames.

Another reported accident occurred when a police car and a sedan collided on 6th Avenue in the West Village. Witnesses reported not hearing police sirens or seeing flashing lights according to a story in the New York Daily News. The officer was reportedly responding to a call for an ‘officer assist’. The patrol car suffered damage to its metal frame, which was characterized as severely bent, and airbags had been deployed. A witness located at a restaurant across the street from the accident indicated that the police were going fast when they crashed and he didn’t see anyone move from the cars. Four people were later hospitalized, but according to the NYPD Department of Public Information all of the injuries were minor. No further information was given.

Continue reading "INJURIES AND DEATH INVADE NEW YORK" »

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