Posted on Jun 05, 2014

Monday morning a 14-year-old boy was struck and killed by a 2004 BMW travelling west as he crossed a Brooklyn street near an intersection.

Neighbors told NBC News that the intersection near Hicks and Lorraine Streets in Red Hook is notorious for accidents.

According to the police, the accident occurred around 7 am.

The teenager was running across the Brooklyn Street trying to catch a school bus.

After being hit by the car, paramedics arrived on the scene and tried to revive the victim. After several failed attempts, he was rushed to the hospital, Methodist Hospital, in critical condition. He died a short time after his arrival at the hospital.

People who witnessed the event said that the impact flung the boy up in the air and over a fence and left the car with a shattered windshield.

One woman told reporters that the noise was so loud she originally thought that two cars had collided.

Both the driver and passenger of the BMW stayed at the scene. The police claimed that no criminality is suspected, however, the driver was issued a summons for having his windows tinted illegally.

People from the neighborhood that are familiar with the intersection say that it is a dangerous corner. Multiple speed-related accidents have occurred there. Many neighbors complained that driver treat this intersection like a highway and simply fly through it.

PROOF IN A WRONGFUL DEATH CASE...

In every type of wrongful death case in New York, we always need to show to a jury that we are more likely right than wrong that what we are claiming is true. In legal terms that is known as the “preponderance of evidence.”

Let's assume for a moment that a wrongful death lawsuit is started. What type of evidence could we use in order to show that we were more likely right than wrong that the driver of the car was responsible for this tragic accident?

  1. The driver's own pretrial testimony. During the course of any litigation we have an opportunity to question the careless driver. During this question and answer session, known legally as an 'examination before trial' or a 'deposition', I have the ability to ask the driver specifically what was his speed was at the time of the impact as well as at various points before the impact.
  2. Witnesses: Just as the newspapers and news reports identified people who actually witnessed this accident, it would be extremely important to obtain statements from people who actually saw what happened, to either support our claim or dispute our claim. It's always critical to know what a witness has seen and observed. After the accident, if a surviving family brings a lawsuit, it is common for an attorney to send out a private investigator to locate and speak to witnesses to the accident. A key purpose of this is to preserve the witness's memory about the events that occurred. We can do this by having the witness prepare a written statement that he signs.
  3. Police accident report. The police will always prepare a detailed report at the site of a serious accident. In cases involving a death and a car, there is a special subdivision of investigating police officers who will usually arrive at the scene to perform a more detailed investigation and reporting. These officers are highly experienced in conducting detailed investigations when there has been a  traffic fatality.
  4. Videos and photographs. We always look to see if there is video footage from the surrounding area that was captured from some type of surveillance video. This type of evidence is invaluable when trying to show who is more likely right than wrong.

To Learn More...

To learn more about the types of questions that we ask during pretrial testimony in a car accident case, I invite you to click here. If you have legal questions about your own particular car accident that happened here in New York, I encourage you to pick up the phone and call me at 516-487-8207. I answer legal questions like yours every day and I'd be happy to talk with you.

Read More About 14-Year-Old Struck and Killed In and Intersection...

Gerry Oginski
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NY Medical Malpractice & Personal Injury Trial Lawyer