An ambulance driver has been arrested in connection with a fatal pedestrian accident that killed Cherry Cayetano Sobel on April 2. According to report in the New York Daily News, 42-year-old Michael Gontar was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care. Gontar was driving a private ambulance when he struck 44-year-old Sobel as she crossed Ocean Avenue at Avenue O in Midwood.
Sobel was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center where she died from her injuries. Gontar was driving an ambulance operated by Maimonides Medical Center, which suspended him and another emergency responder after the crash. The hospital told the Daily News that Gontar still remains suspended without pay, pending an investigation. Sobel was a registered nurse and mother of two. We offer our deepest condolences to her family for their tremendous loss.
Pedestrian Right of Way and Emergency Personnel
New York traffic laws require motorists to exercise reasonable care and yield to pedestrians in crosswalks and at intersections. When a driver ignores these obligations by speeding, failing to stop, making an unsafe turn or driving while distracted, they may be held legally responsible for the injuries they cause.
When an emergency medical technician (EMT) is operating an ambulance, the duty to exercise reasonable care remains in effect, even if he or she is responding to an emergency. Although New York law grants certain privileges to authorized emergency vehicles responding to emergencies with lights and sirens activated, those privileges do not relieve ambulance drivers of their responsibility to operate their vehicles with due regard for the safety of others on the road. An EMT who fails to yield the right of way to a pedestrian and causes a collision may still be held liable if their conduct rises to the level of reckless disregard for the safety of others — the legal standard that generally applies to emergency vehicle operations.
Determining liability in these cases often requires a careful examination of whether the ambulance was responding to an emergency, whether its emergency lights and siren were activated and the speed and manner in which it was being operated and if there was negligence (carelessness) on the part of the driver. Evidence such as surveillance footage, eyewitness testimony, dispatch records, onboard vehicle data and police reports can be critical in evaluating the facts of the case and to determine whether the ambulance driver acted within the scope of the privileges afforded under New York law.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been injured in a bicycle accident or pedestrian accident, or if you have lost a loved one in an auto accident caused by a negligent (careless) driver, the very experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you. It is in the best interest of injured victims and their families in such cases to contact a very experienced personal injury lawyer before contacting the people responsible for the injuries, and definitely before contacting or communicating with any insurance company, or their lawyers, investigators, or adjusters.
Pedestrian accident victims and their families should remember that they can seek compensation for injuries or losses in collisions even if the victim was not walking in a marked crosswalk and even if the driver involved in collision was not charged. Our law firm recovered the full one-million-dollar insurance policy for a girl who was not in the crosswalk when a motor vehicle hit her.
For over 54 years, our skilled accident attorneys have established a proven track record of helping injured victims get fair compensation for their losses. Our law firm recently recovered $5,600,000 for a bicyclist who was hit by a van, and $2,550,000 for another victim of a truck accident, and $3,000,000 for a pedestrian who was hit by a car, and $2,000,000 in a hit-and-run accident, and the full $1,000,000 insurance policy for a pedestrian who was hit by a truck, and $4,625,000 for a driver who was in a car and was hit by a van, and $2,500,000 for a man who fell through an improperly secured hole. We also recovered $1,500,000 for a lady who was hurt by a bus, although there was only a 1 million dollar insurance policy and we got $500,000 above that insurance policy.
We also obtained $295,000 out of a $300,000 insurance policy in compensation for the victim of a bicycle dooring accident (where a car door opens into the path of a bicyclist). One of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases. Also, we got a $1,400,000 verdict in a motorcycle accident.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury cases, negligence cases, motor vehicle accidents, slip-and-fall accidents, trip-and-fall accidents, ceiling collapse cases, lead poisoning, paraplegia cases, quadriplegia cases and medical malpractice cases including, brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy) and cerebral palsy cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
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1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
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Source:https://www.ems1.com/legal/n-y-emt-charged-in-fatal-crash-that-killed-pedestrian