A husband and wife on their way to donate cans to a Staten Island Church were mowed down by a cowardly driver who sped from the scene and left them for dead. With all of the electronic devices to capture images nowadays, from cell phones to, well, more cell phones, I’m surprised some bystander didn’t get a picture of the accident to give to police. Personal injury lawyers claim that these pictures come in very handy when pursing a case against the deadly driver if the victims’ family sue. Peter sabados, 78, died about 45 minutes after he was struck on New Dorp Lane just after 7 p.m. Wednesday. His wife Lillian Sabados, 77, died about 4 a.m. Thursday. Police collared the driver, 26-year-old Allmir Lekperic. The Staten Island man was charged with leaving the scene of an accident with fatalities and driving with a suspended license. I only hope that somebody state legislatures will have the courage to pass laws that make this type of crime tantamount to a murder.
More than 2.1 million drop-side cribs made by Stork Craft were recalled this week following reports of four infants suffocating in them. Consumer Product Safety Commission chief Inez Tenenbaum was on the hot seat Tuesday, explaining why federal regulators hadn’t acted sooner despite warnings that the drop sides could partially detach and entrap a child. “We have just not been acting as quickly as we should have at the Consumer Product Safety Commission on these types of incidents,” she said on CBS’ “Early Show.” She added that she was recently appointed and became aware of the issue “just a few weeks ago.” A reasonable excuse. But what about the manufacturer of these cribs? Why does a federal regulatory body have to keep en eye on them in the first place? Why didn’t Stork Craft issue a recall when they found out that their product was defective without having to be forced? These are babies we’re talking about here. What kind of people put out a product that could injure, and kill, and infant? I hope the best personal injury lawyers in the country get their hands on Stork Craft and run them into the ground for what they’ve done. In the meantime, Tenenbaum recommends parents abandon drop-sides altogether. Dozens of deaths have been linked in the past decade to drop-side cribs, which are designed to allow parents to better reach their child. Toys ‘R’ Us stopped selling drop-sides earlier this year, and Suffolk County became the first municipality in the nation to ban their sale last month. Exactly. That’s what a responsible people should do. Just last week, the industry-standards organization ASTM stopped certifying drop-side cribs in North America, a move expected to influence regulators and manufacturers. This is good, too. But I would never buy another product for my grandchildren made by Stork Craft.
Leandra’s Law is only one signature away from reality. This is a very good thing for most every New Yorker. Drunken driving accidents have increased considerably in the State in the past 5 years. Hopefully, this new law will help curb this dangerous trend. I only wish it would have gone farther and penalized any driver with too many under his or her belt. This bill would make it a felony to drive drunk with a child in the car. It was passed by the NY State Senate on Wednesday and is expected to be signed by Gov. Patterson shortly. The Assembly gave unanimious approval on Tuesday. Leandra Rosado was killed in an October smashup on the Henry Hudson Parkway that police say was caused by the drunk family friend who was driving the car. The law will also require ignition locks for any convicted drunk driver.
Heads up! Teachers at a Bronx school are being portrayed as dunces for letting students play dodgeball with hard soccer balls (hard soccer balls?) in a crowded gym – leaving left one kid with busted teeth. Well I played dodge ball in gym class many more years ago than I care to remember. If I kid got beaned and lost a tooth or two, mom and dad would take me to the dentist. I don’t recall ever hearing of a student’s family suing their kid’s school if gym class got a little rough. Welcome to the 21st century, which could go down as one of the most litigious decades of all time. According to the New York Daily News today, the city offered 12-year-old Shane Reese $20,000 to head off a lawsuit stemming from a head shot he took in the throw-ball-at-person-tag-you’re-it game last year at Intermediate School 219. “Soccer balls were flying all over the place,” said Shane’s lawyer.” He has a lawyer. ”There was an issue of lack of supervision.” Short-staffed and out of bright ideas, teachers at the Claremont school came up with the rainy-day activity,in papers filed in Bronx Supreme Court. More than 100 students were herded into the school gym and given soccer balls instead of squishier rubber dodgeballs (squisher rubber dodge balls…how girly) to whack each other with, they got soccer balls, which, when not being thrown at one another in a game of dodge ball, are instead kicked with at least twice the force with which the balls can be thrown in a game played by millions of post toddlers every weekend. You know, the game frequented by soccer moms.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m 100% behind MADD’s effort to rid the rode of drunk drivers. I only wish Leandra’s law would go further and make driving drunk a felony regardless of whether a child is in the car. But, it looks like the organization will be lucky to get even their original recommendation passed. Mothers Against Drunk Driving on Thursday implored staffers for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to resist efforts to water down “Leandra’s Law” – the bill making it a felony to drive drunk with children 16 years of age or less in the car. In pushing for the tougher law, MADD has joined with Lenny Rosado, whose 11-year-old daughter Leandra was killed in a drunken-driving accident last month on the Henry Hudson Parkway. MADD also wants lawmakers to require installation of ignition interlocks on vehicles belonging to any convicted drunken driver. The Senate was prepared this past Tuesday to pass the tougher Leandra’s Law bill pushed by Gov. Paterson. Assembly Democrats balked; Paterson refused to send the bill up for a vote. Silver wants it to be a misdemeanor unless the driver’s blood alcohol level is at least 0.18, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08. Why does it have to be twice the legal limit for the law to apply? What is wrong with this guy? Paterson has said he is open to weakening his bill if it will pass that way. Sources said he might be willing to compromise at making the felony limit 0.13 – halfway between the legal limit and the level in his bill. Getting a bill passed requires the cooperation of both houses…we should not be playing politics with this issue,” Paterson spokeswoman Marissa Shorenstein said. But this is EXACTLY what he is doing. Bloggers please contact Gov. Patterson’s and Sheldon Silver’s office in Albany and demand passage of the original Leandra’s Law.
An elderly Queens man is suing a popular saloon in Kew Gardens, saying he was injured when he tripped over an unleashed dog. Irving Grossman, 81, claims the fall caused him “severe pain, shock, mental anguish” and ruined his sex life with his wife, Jaclyn. He says the managers of the saloon should have known they created a safety hazard by becoming too “pet-friendly.” On route to place a bet at their OTB window, he stumbled over a very little dog that was laying on the floor, busting his left kneecap. A manager at Austin’s said she couldn’t recall Grossman’s spill even though she was working that day. In keeping with city law, the bar doesn’t allow dogs inside. ”No one that I know can remember anything,” said the manager. This sounds to me like a “man bites dog” story. I’d like to know what happened to that poor little Pomeranian after this klutz ran into him, or her? I suppose we’ll find out when the trial starts. Stay tuned.
With jobs in such short supply around New York City you have to wonder how a nut case like Jeremy Philhower, the bus driver who mowed down a Manhattan college student, keeps his. The Daily News learned that Philhower has been posting Facebook messages about killing, committing suicide and beating people. “Thinking about how many people I want to kill today, including myself,” this City employee wrote on the social networking site over the summer. Apparently referring to passengers on his NYC Transit bus, Philhower also wrote, “I hate these people. I want to kick the s–t out of them. They’re idiots,” the sources said. The fact that the NYPD hasn’t charged Philhower, 39, with wrongdoing in the death of Seth Kahn, 22, who was struck by Philhower’s bus at 53rd St. and Ninth Ave. is beside the point in terms of this mad man’s suitability for his job. Clearly, he is a crisis waiting to happen. I’m sure any personal injury lawyer in New York would have a field day should this guy, or should I say when this guy, flies off the handle and does some serious harm to people the City pays him to transport safely. NYC Transit investigators uncovered the Facebook postings after a rider earlier this fall complained Philhower was texting while driving. Transit suspended Philhower and filed disciplinary charges to fire him. In testimony before arbitrator Martin Scheinman, Philhower admitted texting, but insisted the bus was either stopped at a traffic light or bus stop at the time, one source said. Scheinman refused to uphold the firing and sent Philhower to safety and customer service training instead. Customer service training? Hello. The man belongs in Bellevue, not customer service training. On his first day back on the job, Philhower’s bus struck Kahn of Mamaroneck. A graduate of the University of Maryland, he was was taking classes at FIT in toy design. He was buried Sunday. Philhower also has some safety violations since 2007 on his NYC Transit record, a source said. Two were red-light violations and one was for ‘reckless operation’ of a bus, the source said. In the more recent incidents, he received a warning and a reprimand.
Leading baby stroller maker Maclaren spelled out recall procedures yesterday for about 1 million strollers that can pose danger to kids’ fingers. The Daily News reported Monday that 12 children had their fingertips amputated after getting them stuck in the elbow joint mechanism of the popular strollers. Consumers who have purchased a Maclaren stroller since 1999 can apply for a free kit that covers the side hinges of the stroller. The company said these easy-to-fit hinge covers will insure proper precautions are taken by the operator to avoid injury when opening or closing the umbrella stroller. It took the company 10 years to fix the problem with their strollers with these “easy-to-fit hinge covers”? That is outrageous. I wonder how many of these children could have avoided injury if the company acted sooner? I’d like to know when the first child was hurt riding in one. Maclaren would have probably let this problem continue if it weren’t for the efforts of personal injury lawyers who I would imagine are representing the families of these poor kids who were hurt using this product. Maclaren deserves to be punished first for the defective product it sells, and then again for letting accidents happen again and again to children before doing something about it.
I think it’s laudable that Gov. Paterson is committed to stricter penalties for drunk drivers with children in the car. Paterson also put on his agenda for the session a bill requiring ignition-interlock devices on cars of anyone convicted of drunken driving.
I’m one New Yorker who applauds the Governor’s efforts. I only wish he had gone farther and included anyone in the proposed legislation is caught talking on their cells phone and sending text messages when they are behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. Distractions of any kind, but in particular cell and text usage, can be just as dangerous as a high blood alcohol level for drivers operating a motor vehicle.
The streets of New York are a dangerous place for pedestrians, especially during rush hour. I have a friend who is a New York personal injury lawyer who handles a lot of pedestrian knockdown cases. His advice to New Yorkers: “Look both ways before crossing the street. Then look again. And, keep looking both ways until you have safely set foot on the other side.” Just today, The New York Daily News reported that a 23-year-old Westchester man was killed Wednesday when he was struck by an out-of-service city bus in Manhattan. The victim was trying at 8:44 a.m. to sprint across Ninth Ave. before the light changed when he was run over by a bus turning left off West 53rd St., officials said. “A pedestrian ran across the street and the bus was already making the turn,” said a 50-year-old witness who declined to give his name. “He tried to beat the bus but he couldn’t.”