A Florida woman, who was partially paralyzed after being struck and dragged by a New York City bus in 2017, was awarded $72.5 million by a Manhattan jury, the Associated Press reported.
Aurora Beauchamp, who lived in New York City at the time, said she was on her way to her mother’s home in March 2017 to inform her about her diagnosis of uterine cancer. While she was crossing Houston and Columbia Streets on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Beauchamp was struck by a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus driven by Eduard Khanimov. Khanimov had been attempting to turn his bus when he ran over her and dragged her approximately 20 feet.
Beauchamp who now lives in Bradenton, Florida, was left with several broken bones and internal bleeding.
In an interview with the New York Post, Beauchamp, now 68, said she had crossed that intersection “100 million times” in her life, and before she knew it, she was under an MTA bus “fighting for my life.” Her pelvis was crushed. She suffered severe nerve damage to her left leg that required her to use a wheelchair, and the injuries on her right leg left her with open wounds that did not heal for years.
The 6-person Manhattan jury took less than three hours on February 22 to reach its verdict. It ordered the MTA to pay $72.5 million in damages to Beauchamp.
Beauchamp’s attorney Edward Cooper told the New York Post that the jury award was one of the largest against the MTA for an accident.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Tim Minton told WPIX that the MTA plans to appeal the judgment.
Minton described the verdict as “excessive” and said it was an example of the impact personal injury litigation has on the MTA’s funding that could be used to improve transit service in the city.
Eduard Khanimov was arrested following the accident and charged with failure to yield to pedestrians. He pleaded guilty.