An FDNY EMT ambulance driver fatally struck a pedestrian in a Bronx crosswalk
early morning on Jan. 2. The New York Daily News obtained surveillance video showing the 56-year-old victim had a steady walk signal when he entered the crosswalk at the intersection of East Gun Hill Road and DeKalb Avenue in Norwood. Video footage of the pedestrian accident showed the EMT making a left turn from DeKalb onto East Gun Hill and ended up hitting the pedestrian.
A second ambulance arrived at the scene and medics transported the victim to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The EMT who struck the victim had just pulled out of North Central Bronx Hospital before the crash. The driver remained at the scene and was not charged at the time, the Daily News reports. We offer our condolences to the family members of this deceased pedestrian. They will be in our thoughts and prayers.
Crashes Involving Ambulances
Ambulance drivers are trained to react to crisis situations. However there are many instances where, as they attempt to get to the scene of a traumatic incident, or when they are transporting individuals to a hospital or even during non-emergency situations, they can get involved in major injury and fatal collisions. According to data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were approximately 1,500 ambulance accidents each year in the 20-year span between 1992 and 2011. These ambulance accidents resulted in about 2,600 injuries each year.
The data also showed that in the accidents that resulted in injuries, 54% were occupants of other vehicles, 29% were ambulance passengers and 17% were ambulance drivers themselves. Of the fatalities, 63% were occupants of another passenger vehicle, 25% were in the ambulance (mostly passengers) and 12% were pedestrians and bicyclists. On average, there were 29 fatal ambulance crashes resulting in 33 deaths each year over that 20-year period the NHTSA study was done.
Rights of Pedestrians to Compensation
Pedestrians — whether they are struck by a passenger vehicle or an ambulance — are at risk of suffering serious injuries ranging from head injuries, spinal cord damage and internal organ damage to broken bones and amputations. These types of injuries can take a significant amount of time to recover from and often require time off work, surgeries, extensive rehabilitation, etc. All of this can also cause a significant financial and emotional strain not just for the pedestrian accident victims, but their families as well.
Injured victims of pedestrian accidents can seek compensation from at-fault parties for damages including, but not limited to, medical expenses, lost wages and benefits, hospitalization, rehabilitation, permanent injuries, disabilities, past and future pain and suffering, etc. Families that have lost loved ones in pedestrian accidents can seek compensation for damages such as lost future income, medical and funeral costs, pain and suffering, etc.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been injured in a pedestrian accident, or if you have lost a loved one in an auto accident caused by a negligent (careless) driver, the 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.
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 50 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 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. Also, 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.
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 and/or medical malpractice 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.
Other TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
Please visit us at: www.WORK4YOULAW.com
Source: https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-fdny-ambulance-driver-fatally-strikes-bronx-pedestrian-20220102-aye6z3khonehxldr6m5yrovaji-story.html