A U.S. Postal Service truck hit and killed Chester Mazur, a beloved local musician, just steps away from his Hell’s Kitchen apartment. According to CBS New York, the fatal pedestrian accident occurred early morning on Aug. 15 at the intersection of West 55th Street and Ninth Avenue. Police say Mazur, 66, was in the crosswalk when he was struck by the USPS box truck whose driver did not stop.
Mazur was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The driver, 61-year-old James Simmons was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of the deadly crash. The investigation is still ongoing and USPS has said it is “cooperating fully with the investigation.” We offer our deepest condolences to Chester Mazur’s family and community for their tragic loss.
NYC Laws on Pedestrian in Crosswalks and Leaving the Scene
New York City law requires drivers to yield to pedestrians in marked and unmarked crosswalks. Drivers must slow or stop when necessary and exercise due care to avoid collisions. A driver who fails to yield and strikes a pedestrian may be held financially responsible for the crash in addition to facing criminal charges.
New York law also requires drivers involved in crashes to stop and provide identifying and insurance information. Under Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 600, a driver who knows or has reason to know that another person was injured must remain at the scene and fulfill legally-required reporting obligations. Leaving after injuring a pedestrian can result in a potential felony hit-and-run charge as well.
Liability in Hit-and-Run Collisions
In a hit-and-run collision, the driver and vehicle owner are both responsible parties even if the owner was not driving when the accident occurred. If the driver was on the job and/or operating a company vehicle at the time, his or her employer can also be held liable.
Such drivers can be held financially responsible whether or not they are arrested and/or charged. If a hit-and-run driver has injured you, please remember that you can seek compensation through the uninsured motorist clause of your auto insurance policy (even though the driver has not been identified) or through a quasi-state agency if there is no motor vehicle in the victim’s household. You should consult a personal injury lawyer immediately to protect your rights.
Contacting an Experienced NYC Pedestrian Accident 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 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.
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.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/chester-mazur-nyc-musician-killed-in-hit-and-run-usps/