New York City is liable for $19 million of a $36 million verdict awarded to a boy bicyclist who sustained brain damage when he was hit by a car, the New York Post reported Sunday.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/jury_hits_city_for_K4dhuTynjmBPy8cWP9omZP
The city’s responsbility for $19 million would be the biggest legal award paid by the city ever, according to the Post.
New York City has moved to have the verdict set aside, claiming that the fact that it didn’t install traffic-calming measures on Gerritsen Avenue, where the accident took place, was not a factor in the incident that forever changed the life Anthony Turturro. He was 12 when he was sustained brain injury as a result of the accident, and is now 19.
A Brooklyn jury awarded Turturro the $36 million on May 26, the Post reported. The panel determined that the city was 40 percent liable and that the driver that hit Turturro, Louis Pascarella, was liable for 50 percent. The jury that the victim was 10 percent responsible for the accident.
Turturro had been on his way home from Christmas tree lighting Dec. 4, 2004 when he was hit by Pascarella, who had a suspended license, and was driving a red Honda 55 mph in a 30 mph zone, according to the Post,
The youth was in rehab fot two years at St. Mary’s Healthcare System in Bayside, Queens, “learning how to walk and talk,” according to the Post. He is now at Adelphi Academy, a school for the disabled, and has a guide dog that helps him stay balanced.
Pascarella pleaded guilty to felony reckless assault, and was sentenced to probation, the Post reported.
Print Friendly Version
Save Page as PDF
