New York Tragedy Turns Happy

Because of its sheer size and cultural influence, New York has been the subject of many different, and often contradictory, portrayals in mass media. One thing is for certain, there’s no place quite like New York. Its sheer size and diversity bring both positives and negatives. Not only is it a magnet for unusual behaviors that lead to tragic accidents, but is also a place where New York tragedy can be overcome with a happy ending.

Here we spotlight New York tragedy that has a positive, heart-warming close to a tragic ordeal.

MTA Worker Saves Life of Disabled Man who Fell on Subway Tracks

A disabled man plunged onto Harlem subway tracks after accidentally leaning on the throttle of his electric wheelchair. Bronx musician Jerome Billings, 60, said he saw the lights of a train speeding toward him in this New York tragedy as he lay on the rails — and he prepared to die."

"All these people were yelling, telling me that my hand was near the third rail," Billings told the Daily News from his hospital bed at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Saturday. "I was petrified. I thought I was going to die."

He didn't count on heroic MTA worker Carlos Betancourt being in the station. He leapt onto the tracks at the 125th St. and Lexington Ave. station and, with the help of other strangers, prevented a New York tragedy by dragging the man to safety.
Source: Daily News

N.Y. College Ordered to Pay $15.8-Million

A New York State jury has ordered Union College to pay $15.8-million to a student who asserted in a lawsuit that she was injured when she fell into a manhole on the college's campus. It is believed that the manhole cover had been scraped off by snow plows, said Phillip J. Wajda, a spokesman for the college, which is located in Schenectady, N.Y.

In a verdict delivered in the State Supreme Court in Rensselaer County, a jury found the college negligent in handling this New York tragedy and awarded Ms. Nolan $300,000 for past pain and suffering, $7.5-million for future pain and suffering, and $8-million for future medical costs, said Mr. Wajda.

Ms. Nolan graduated in the spring of 2004 with a political-science degree but has constant pain in her lower legs and must inject herself every day with an anticoagulant to prevent deep-vein thrombosis, her lawyer told reporters.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education

Department of Corrections Officer Plunges into Frigid River and Prevents New York Tragedy

Assistant Deputy Warden Carmine LaBruzzo of the New York City Department of Corrections (DOC) was in his Rikers Island office going over some paperwork when a nurse and a clerk on their way home from working the midnight.

At about 9 a.m. on that cold and rainy day, Elsie Williams got behind the wheel of her Toyota Camry and slowly began to back out from her parking spot onto the main road. Williams says she lost control of the car and hit an embankment behind her, which caused the car to lurch forward into the river in this harrowing New York tragedy. Although the car initially floated near the shoreline, the strong current swept it deeper into the river. LaBruzzo heard the call over the radio from the patrol that spotted the vehicle in the water.

"When I got there, the vehicle was approximately 75 feet offshore and sinking pretty quickly," recalls LaBruzzo. Without a moment's hesitation, he and four other correctional officers, James Wolters, Robert Johnsen, Capt. Frank Soto and Capt. Alexander Athannassiou, who has since retired, jumped into the water.

"There was no time to think," explains LaBruzzo. "I was able to see -- the car was three-quarters of the way submerged -- the women's faces. They were panicking and taking in water.

Williams says she and her co-worker, Jannie McCall, were praying for help from this New York tragedy as the water continued to rise in the car. "I thought we were going to drown because all I could see was the river and it is so wide," says Williams

After jumping into the water, the correctional officers strained to pry open the car door, which was being held shut by the increasing water pressure. They pulled until the door finally gave way and they were able to grab the nurses from the vehicle, which had settled in about 7 feet of water with all but the roof submerged.
Source: Corrections Today

News Reporter’s Accident New York Almost Fatal

While Rebecca Spitz was covering New York tragedy for local cable news channel, NY1, she took a break in in the coverage in Harlem and walked to her car. Spitz was the channel's Manhattan breaking-news reporter. An energetic brunette with dark eyes and an enormous smile, she had worked at NY1 since graduating from college. She was thirty-one and loved the fast-paced environment, the storytelling, and knowing what was going on before anyone else.

When she crossed the street near St. Nicholas Avenue and 120th Street, a burgundy van drove by and New York tragedy hit her as well. The van passed so close to Spitz that its passenger-side mirror collided with her head. The impact of the blow fractured Spitz's skull and knocked her to the ground, cracking her head again as it hit the pavement. In an instant, she went from covering a story to becoming one. Doctors had to drill a hole into Spitz's skull to monitor the pressure inside; too much swelling could cut off oxygen, leaving her with brain damage, or killing her. They gave orders not to wash her or move her because her situation was so precarious.

As the days turned into weeks, things began to go wrong. Because Sodium Pentothal quiets the nervous system, it can cut off circulation to parts of the body. Spitz had multiple organ failure; her liver, her kidneys, and her small intestine all shut down. At one point, doctors performed abdominal surgery, removing eight inches of intestine that had died, and Spitz was put on dialysis. And once, because her brain wasn't getting enough nutrients, she had a violent seizure that lasted forty minutes.

Henry Spitz was told by hospital staff four times that it was time to call the family, that there was nothing else they could do prevent this New York tragedy.

Spitz recovered from this New York tragedy and bears no outward signs of the physical trauma she endured.
Source: Columbia Journalism Review

Seeger Weiss may not be able to change the course of a New York tragedy, but our personal injury attorneys can ensure the right course of action for justice afterwards. Contact us today.

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