A Brooklyn man who froze to death in front of his wife after their car skidded off an icy stretch of upstate highway would still be alive if the area had better cellphone coverage, a state lawmaker charged yesterday.
“We are very saddened that this man died needlessly,” state Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) said after the funeral for Alfred Langner, who died of hypothermia Thursday, 13 hours after his car skidded off Interstate 87, the Northway, in North Hudson.
“The Northway is a lonely stretch of highway, and here we have a certified EMT who couldn’t save himself because his cellphone wouldn’t work,” Golden said. “His wife had to watch him die. It was a wrongful death.”
Golden said he and state Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury) today will seek legislation calling for the immediate construction of cellphone towers to eliminate the Northway’s 50-mile zone without coverage.
Langner, a 63-year-old father of three, and his wife, Barbara, 58, were returning home from a wedding in Montreal when they veered off the highway at around 2 a.m. Thursday. Barbara, whose back was broken in the crash, leaving her immobile, tried several to call 911 but was unable to get a signal.
“My mother told me this morning that she was in such pain toward the end that she yelled out, ‘God how much longer do I have to stay here? I can’t last any longer,’ ” son Rueven Langner, 36, said last night.
“Within seconds of that, a cop yelled down to her, ‘Are you OK down there?’ That’s the hand of God working.”
Barbara Langner was rescued at around 10 a.m. Friday – after spending 32 hours in the subfreezing conditions – and is in fair condition at a Burlington, Vt., hospital after back surgery.
Daughter Chana Herbst said her mom said the couple kept telling one another they would pull through. “The miracle is that my mother did survive,” Herbst said.
At Alfred Langner’s funeral in Borough Park yesterday, his grief-stricken son Mechel addressed his father.
“Mommy saw you were full of blood. Who could ever believe you could die in a car accident? You were as strong as a wall,” said Mechel, who had flown in from Jerusalem with his brother, Rueven.
The family was joined by hundreds of mourners who gathered at the Shomrie Hadas Funeral Home in Borough Park, spilling out to the sidewalk to pay final respects to Langner, an EMT with the Hatzolah ambulance service for 30 years.
“My father was a man, a good man,” Rueven told the mourners. “God should open heaven and have mercy on him.”
Adirondack Council spokesman John Sheehan said his group helped the state get permits in 2002 to build 32 new towers that would cover the Northway’s dead zone.
He said a conglomerate of cellphone providers is blocking the plan – instead pushing for three 200-foot towers that could also provide service to towns near the highway.
Sheehan said that under that system, “there would still be a dead spot where these people went off the road.”
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
18 Responses
Very Sad story. Hamokom Yenachem eschem…….
I do not know this family but wow does this news hurt. Hamakom yenachem eschem bsoch shaar avlei tzion veyerushalayim.
Really sends a shiver down your spine …someone who saved so many lives in accidents….no question he went straight to gan eden.Hamokom Yenachem eschem-Only g-d can console such people.
Nebach, what a slow & painfull death. I don’t know this man, but I”m taking this story pretty hard. Poor wife she watched her husband die this way.
I hope she recovers fully.
I travel on that highway ocasionally, now I’ll slow down.
The way up to canada has quite a few spots where there is no cell phone service.
Let’s all vote and agree to more cell-phone towers to combat this problem and gdwilling to save & protect future riders on this road. “May the family see no more tzarous”.
(A side point: Majority of accidents occur between 12 midnight and 5AM in the morning)
I agree with Sheryl about it encouraging safe and slow travel. I hope to remember that.
I don’t understand why anything from the shmutzik NYPost is given any attention here. The same info is available elsewhere. Any of the city tabloids belong in a trash can, nowhere else. It ought to be illegal to be on public display, where a minor, or any decent person, could see it.
BTW-Just a safety tip-If you are in an emergency situation-and there is not enough signal to make a call-Sometimes text messaging works-it takes minimal service to send a text message,and if doesnt go right away it usually sends it later automatically when it picks up some service..
You’re right Joseph-That is why its on yeshiva world and you don’t have to read the post to see it!!!!!!!!!!You might wanna take a moment of silence to thank the YW for such a gr8 job…in hebrew its called HAKORAS HATOV.
I think all this advice is very needed and very apppropriate. But lets not forget , no matter how much ‘hishtadlus’ a person has, EVERYTHING is Min Hashomayim. I dont want the wife ever to have to read these comments and then blame herself for not being able to save her husband because it was BEYOND HER CONTROL. The Aibishter gave Mr. Langner 63 years and in all this time he filled his life with chesed being involved with Hatzoloh and all.
He has a tremendous zechus and takes it with him .
His family should be proud and NEVER have to blame anyone!
May he be a meilitz yoisher for all!!!
When my husband heard the names in English, he asked me, could that be our old friends form Camp Emunah? So I searched and searched and I am so sorry. Brocha, may you have a refuah and be comforted, you and your family. Nurse Devorah and Mr. Nurse.
May I kindly suggest an idea that can be done in memory of Mr. Langer? There are many organizations that provide coats, blankets, etc. or cover heating bills for families in financial crisis. Perhaps some readers would like to make donations to these organizations in Mr. Langer’s memory.
May the family know of no more sorrow.
I think its really a nice idea to dedicate something in the memory of Mr. Langner. However I dont think it should be in any way connected to the cause of his death, that might just depress the familyMore. How about donating equipment to Hatzoloh?
this is a very sad story yesterday in boro park was a day of crying for the belza crowd they went from one levaya to the next and the tears did not stop i spoke to a belza person and they said that this Mr. Langner was a man who came from ave. I and walked to daven at the 15th Ave shul every fraidy night and i n the shabbas would fo to 43rd and 13th & 14th did not care if he was sick or the weather he was a very good and nice man hashem should help his wife and family
TO Abi meleibt Says:
Good idea,
sometimes if it’s cloudy there is no service in bad areas, yet when it clears up there may be cell service ,and the text messege would be sent then.
Maybe there should be a gemach with C.B.RADIO’S that people can take along with them when traveling in places with no service, it may save lives ( the proposed GEMACH would have one radio, and people would just need to borrow one radio and chas v’sholom in a emergency they can call the gemach on they’re radio).
another thing that can and should be done is to slap the cell phone compnaies that are blocking the construction of the 32 towers with a ‘wrongful death’ suit
The GM cars are equipped with ON-STAR, that’s a lifesaving feature a car should have, just listen to their comercials on the radio, It would of been a big help if this car would of have ON-STAR.
nameless
good ideas!
We cannot understand Hashem’s ways and of course all hishtadlus that can be done in such a situation to avoid recurrence of such a terrible event should be shared to save future lives.
Whenever taking a trip it is always a good idea to make up with someone that you will call them when you get back and give an approximate time when they can expect you to call by.
Nebach, this lady had to lie helpless for 32 hours!!! and 19 of them were spent next to her deceased husband.
Had some been waiting for their call they could have notified the police and maybe their car would have been found.
Again, the purpose of writing this is to avoid this happening in the future. What was cannot be changed.
Besuros Tovos Yeshuos Venechomos!
May these horrible incidents be the final birth pangs of Chevlei Moshiach.