A tragedy occurred on Christmas Eve morning on New York’s Upper East Side. Shortly before 10 a.m. a commercial truck jumped a curb and struck a fire hydrant. Before the vehicle hopped the curb, it also hit a pedestrian and a bicyclist who where in the crosswalk at the time.
There was one other victim in the incident
There was a passenger in the box truck that morning. The man, reportedly a co-worker of the driver, had attempted to get into the front seat moments before the collision occurred. For reasons still unknown, he later told police that the driver accelerated the vehicle before the passenger was all the way in the truck. As the vehicle sped forward, the man fell out and hurt his ankle in the process.
Moments after the box truck started moving, it struck the pedestrian and bicyclist in the crosswalk. Sadly, neither of them survived their injuries. Investigators say that police spoke with the driver of the truck after the fatal collision. He reportedly told them that his gas pedal got stuck as he prepared to navigate a turn.
Driver negligence is often a factor in wrongful death claims in court
Learning that a loved one has died in a motor vehicle collision is devastating. In cases where driver negligence is determined to have been a causal factor, an immediate family member may seek justice on behalf of a decedent by filing a wrongful death claim in a civil court. This type of litigation is highly stressful, especially because details of a loved one’s death are referred to in court; asking an experienced personal injury attorney to act on one’s behalf helps alleviate the stress that a grieving family might be feeling as proceedings get underway.