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FILED: SUFFOLK COUNTY CLERK 05/27/2020 02:51 PM INDEX NO. 004994/2016
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2 you remember?
3 A. This was just a lot -- I
4 think it was just a lot of memory
5 exercises. Just memory exercises and
6 spelling.
7 Q. That was in St. Charles that
8 you saw the speech therapist, correct?
9 A. I believe so, yes.
10 Q. After you were released from
11 St. Charles, did you have any treatment
12 from any speech therapist?
-- think was just
13 A. I had I it
14 occupational and physical therapies and
15 , home care. I don't remember if they did
16 speech therapy there, as well.
17 Q. Where?
18 A. At my house. I had home
19 care for about a month, as well.
20 Q. Which home care agency?
21 A. I think it was Catholic
22 Health Services.
23 Q. How often would the home
24 care come?
25 A. I think three times a week.
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2 Q. When you left the hospital,
3 did you have any type of cast on any
4 portion of your body, casting or
5 immobilization?
6 A. Yeah. I had --
7 MR. FELBERBAUM: You're
8 about Brook9
talking Stony
9 MR. PUZO: After he left the
10 hospital, Stony Brook Hospital.
11 MR. FELBERBAUM: Okay.
12 A. I was transferred in an
13 ambulance to St. Charles. That was -- I
14 believe that was via wheelchair. I mean,
15 I had braces on my leg, my foot, my
16 wrist, my neck. And there might be
17 others I'm not thinking of right now.
18 Q. What I'm asking is, your
19 left arm, was that immobilized through a
20 cast or some other brace or device?
21 A. I believe it was in a brace,
22 i yes. I had a special, I guess, molded
23 plastic that was molded to my hand.
24 Q. Did you have something
25 similar on your left leg?
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2 A. I had something, I believe,
3 on my knee and on my foot.
4 Q. Your height and weight, was
5 it about the same before the accident as
6 it is now?
7 A. I gained about 30 pounds
8 after the accident, mostly just due to
not as active as I was at all --
9 being
10 Q. Okay.
A. -- kind of bedridden.
11
12 Q. And so you're still 30
13 pounds heavier now than you had been
14 before?
15 A. I managed to lose some of
16 the weight.
17 Q. After you got out of
18 St. Charles, were you able to walk with
19 the assistance of a walker, cane,
20 crutches, or were you still in a
21 wheelchair?
22 A. I was in the wheelchair for
23 some time.
24 The way my house was set up,
25 I could only really navigate between a
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2 couple of rooms. I would have to do a
3 1 transfer sometimes to the walker, which
4 , was very hard to use for me, mostly
5 because with the walker you typically use
6 both hands. I was only able to use one
7 hand.
8 So I had my arm hoisted up
9 on, I guess, a pad (indicating). So I
10 was using a walker with one hand and one
11 leg hopping over to the bathroom, where I
12 had a separate toilet that I used for
13 assistance, and then the shower where I
14 also had this bench.
15 MR. FELBERBAUM: He's
16 indicating the left arm.
17 MR. PUZO: Correct.
18 Q. After you were discharged
19 from St. Charles, did you go back to
20 Stony Brook for follow-up visits?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. How many months would you
23 say you went back to Stony Brook to be
24 evaluated and take a look at everything
25 that was going on?
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2 A. From the same doctors or --
3 Q. No. Just Stony Brook
4 Hospital.
5 A. I didn't go back to the
6 hospital.
7 Q. Okay.
8 1 A. But I went to continue visit
9 . the doctors who saw me and treated me in
10 their offices. Some were on Stony Brook
11 or were part of the Stony Brook
12 University Medical Center.
13 Q. And Dr. Divaris, is he one
14 of them?
15 A. Yes. I saw him just a week
16 ago.
17 Q. Did he perform surgery on
18 your leg, if you know?
19 A. I don't recall, but I
20 1 believe he did.
21 Q. Did he also do the surgery
22 for your wrist?
23 A. No. I believe that was
24 Dr. Gelfand.
25 Q. How about the carpal tunnel,
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2 i was that Dr. Gelfand or someone else?
3 A. I believe so.
4 Q. So Gelfand did the left arm
5 and the left wrist?
6 A. I believe so.
7 Q. Is Dr. Gelfand with Long
8 Island Bone and Joint, do you know?
9 A. I don't believe so. I think
10 that's Dr. Rena you're thinking of.
11 MR. FELBERBAUM: I think, if
12 you want me to give it to you --
13 MR. PUZO: Yes.
14 MR. FELBERBAUM: -- it's
15 Stony Brook Surgical of East
16 Setauket.
17 Q. Is Dr. Divaris in the same
18 group as Dr. Gelfand?
19 A. Their offices are located in
20 the same area. I'm not sure if they're
21 part of the same group.
22 Q. Fair enough.
23 Did you begin treating at
24 Long Island Bone and Joint, as well?
25 A. Yes.
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2 Q. And was that mainly for your
3 neck and back situation or --
4 A. Yes. I'm pretty sure. I
5 might get -- there are so I
many doctors,
6 might get the offices mixed around here
7 and there. But I believe that was
8 Dr. Rena for my neck and back.
9 1 Q. R-E-I-N-A?
10 A. I think it's R-E-N-A.
11 Q. We're talking about three
12 separate doctors, Dr. Divaris,
13 Dr. Gelfand and Dr. Rena, correct?
14 A. Yes. There was also
15 Dr. Ryan who worked with Gelfand. And
16 then Gelfand ended up moving his
17 practice. So I ended up seeing
18 Dr. Gantz, G-A-N-T-Z, who took his place.
19 Q. Were they treating you with
20 regard to your left arm and wrist?
21 A. Dr. Gelfand, Dr. Ryan and
22 Dr. Gantz was all left wrist.
23 Q. And Dr. Divaris was more
24 looking at the leg?
25 A. Yes. That's correct. My
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2 left foot and left leg.
3 Q. And Dr. Rena was more of the
4 neck and back?
5 A. That's correct.
6 Q. Did you also have physical
7 therapy at some other location?
8 A. I did.
9 Q. Where was that?
10 A. I went to physical therapy
11 at Kings Park Physical Therapy, Main
12 Street Physical Therapy. That was with
13 Bob Triano.
14 Q. When you went to physical
15 therapy at Main Street Physical Therapy
16 in Kings Park, what portions of your body
17 did they perform physical therapy on?
18 A. My left foot, my left leg,
19 and my left wrist.
20 Q. In terms of how the medical
21 bills were paid, did you have health
22 insurance or health insurance through
23 your employer?
24 A. I do not have health
25 insurance through my employer.
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2 Q. Do you have health
3 insurance?
4 A. I do.
5 Q. Who do you have that with?
6 A. That was with Oscar at the
7 time.
8 Q. What's Oscar?
9 A. It's a health insurance
10 company.
11 Q. Okay.
12 A. And I bought it myself.
13 Q. Were medical bills submitted
14 to Oscar?
15 A. I believe some were, yes.
16 MR. PUZO: Off the record.
17 (A discussion was held off
18 I the record.)
19 Q. Physical therapy, when did
20 you go? During what period of time did
21 you go?
22 A. I started physical
23 --
therapy
24 Q. I should specify, at Main
25 Street Physical Therapy in Kings Park.
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2 A. I started physical therapy
3 at Main Street Physical Therapy in Kings
4 Park in April, I want to say.
5 Q. 2016?
6 A. Correct.
7 Q. How long did you go for; how
8 many months?
9 A. I went for two months for
10 sure, and then I started working again
11 and I would go back whenever I was home.
12 Q. The initial two months, how
13 many times did you go per week?
14 A. Three times per week.
15 Q. And then after that more
16 sporadically?
17 A. Yes. That's correct.
18 Q. What type of therapy,
19 specifically, did they do for you?
20 A. It was hand therapy.
21 Q. I mean what did they do?
22 How did they do the hand therapy? Did
23 they move it, manipulate it, put stuff on
24 it?
25 A. They would move it. They
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2 would manipulate it. And I think it's
3 called mold device. I'm not sure if
4 that's correct.
5 Q. You stick your hand in
6 something?
7 A. The same thing. I didn't
8 stick my hand in anything. But yes, like
9 the warming or cooling or what have you.
10 There was various exercise,
11 twisting and movement, range of motion
12 exercises that I would have to do. And I
13 would take them home with me to complete
14 multiple times a day, especially when I
15 wasn't going to physical therapy.
16 I was very adamant about
17 this in trying to get better, as best I
18 could.
19 In addition to the wrist
20 there was also strengthening activities
21 that I would do with my leg and my foot,
22 as well. And same type of situation
23 where they worked on range of motion and
24 strengthening.
25 Q. Did you have any therapy for
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2 your neck or back at Main Street Physical
3 Therapists in Kings Park?
4 A. I didn't.
5 Q. Any of these places perform
6 any type of therapy for your neck or your
7 back?
8 A. No.
9 Q. No chiropractic treatment I
10 imagine?
11 A. No.
12 Q. Leland Acampora and Woody
13 Zalman, these two people you knew for how
14 long?
15 A. I knew Woody since I was in
16 kindergarten, and Leland I met in middle
17 school.
18 Q. Did Leland move away from
19 Long Island at some point?
20 A. He did.
21 Q. When was that?
22 A. I don't know the exact time,
23 but he moved to California at some point
24 after I graduated from college.
25 Q. What college did you go to?
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2 A. I went to University of
3 Buffalo.
4 Q. When did you graduate?
5 A. 2011.
6 Q. What did you study?
7 A. Media study, production.
8 Q. Leland Acampora, what type
9 of work was he doing, if you know?
10 A. I don't know.
11 Q. Did he go to college? What
12 did he do?
13 A. I don't believe he went to
14 college. But I'm not sure. I know he
15 was some -- he told me in
doing something
16 firefighting or some type of outdoor
17 stuff. That was basically the gist of
18 it.
19 Q. Did you keep in contact with
20 him in the year or two previous to this
21 accident?
22 A. Randomly.
23 Q. Nothing regularly?
24 A. No.
25 Q. When was the last time you
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2 had seen him before February 2nd, 2016?
3 A. I'm not sure. Probably
4 months to a year prior.
5 Q. Would that have been on
6 another occasion where he came back to
7 Long Island?
8 A. I did visit him in
9 California once. It was some point after
10 maybe a year or two. He was there for a
11 while and I came to visit him.
12 Q. Okay.
13 A. It was for -- I think it was
14 friend's Thanksgiving. And then I did a
15 road trip down to the Pacific Coast
16 Highway and met another friend down you
17 in LA.
18 Q. How would you describe your
19 relationship with Leland? How close were
20 you basically?
21 A. We talked. We drifted apart
22 in high school. And then I didn't really
23 talk to him through college. Maybe like
24 one of the last years in college I
25 started talking to him again.
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2 I believe that's when his
3 mother passed away. And then he moved
4 away and we just kept in contact
5 randomly. Mostly talking about music.
6 We were both into music a lot.
7 Q. How about Woody Zalman,
8 where was he living just before this
9 incident happened?
10 A. Woody was working in China,
11 and he was back, I think he needed to
12 come back to the States to get his visa
13 renewed for China.
14 Q. How would you describe your
15 relationship with him?
16 A. I knew Woody well. We
17 weren't the closest of friends, but I
18 knew him fairly well.
19 Q. When was the last time he
20 was on Long Island before these events?
21 A. I don't know. I'm sorry.
22 Q. How long was he away in
23 China for?
24 A. It seemed like a while. It
25 seemed like almost a year. But again,
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2 I'm not sure of the exact time frames.
3 Q. What type of work was he
4 doing in China, if you know?
5 A. He started to go there, I
6 believe it was to teach English. And
7 then he wound up doing import/export for
8 like a Japanese meat, I think. I think
9 that's what it was.
10 Q. Did he go to college?
11 A. Yes, he did.
12 Q. Where did he go?
13 A. University of Vermont.
14 Q. Graduate, if you know?
15 A. I believe he did.
16 Q. Did either of these two
17 individuals have a wife or a family or
18 kids?
19 A. They did not have kids.
20 They both had girlfriends.
21 Q. When was the last time the
22 three of you were together before the
23 date this accident happened?
24 A. I don't know.
25 Q. Was it months, years, weeks?
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2 t A. I don't know, honestly.
3 Q. Who was the closer friend?
4 Was it like you and someone else and then
5 the third guy came later, or who was
6 closer, if you know?
7 A. I don't know. I'm sorry.
8 Q. There was a point in time on
9 the evening of the incident the three of
10 you were together. You had mentioned
11 earlier that you were picked up from your
12 home?
13 A. Correct.
14 Q. What do you recall about the
15 arrangements that were made for that
16 night to get together?
17 A. It was Woody and Lee in the
18 car. They came to pick me up. I got in
19 the car. We talked about in my driveway
20 hey, what do you guys want to do. Let's
21 go get some food, maybe a drink.
22 I mentioned to Lee, I told
23 him that Uber was around town. They just
24 came to Long Island. So if you guys
25 wanted to go out and get drinks that we
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2 could always use that as a safe ride, and
3 I'd go grab your car in the morning if
4 need be.
5 And Woody agreed. He said
6 he could stay at his house, vice versa.
7 And so started the night off just going
8 for some food and having a drink.
9 -- excuse me -- Leland was the
Woody
10 designated driver.
11 Q. And where was Leland staying
12 while he was in from California?
13 A. I'm not sure. Sometimes he
14 would stay with his grandparents. Other
15 times he didn't want to intrude on them
16 and so he would