New York Times columnist hit by sightseeing bus awarded $85M
A “Vows” columnist for the New York Times who was run over by a double-decker sightseeing bus won a whopping $85 million award from a Manhattan jury late Tuesday.
Devan Sipher, who describes himself as “a single guy writing about weddings,” was walking with the light in the crosswalk on Sixth Avenue at West Fourth Street on July 3, 2015, when a Grey Line tour bus made a left turn and mowed him down.
The bus’s front tire ran over his left leg, then dragged him a few feet before stopping.
The 54-year-old Manhattan resident — a runner who logged 6-minute miles before the accident — had 11 surgeries over three years to repair a fractured shoulder and legs so lacerated by the crash that they resembled Swiss cheese.
He suffers from constant pain and will walk with a boot on his left leg for the rest of his life, his lawyer Howard Hershenhorn told The Post.
The jury of four women and two men took just three hours to deliberate following the six-week trial.
“Despite Vision Zero, there are still way too many of these accidents,” Hershenhorn said, referring to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s safe streets initiative.
“There needs to be more enforcement of the right-of-way laws so that when accidents like this happen, drivers are punished.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute the bus driver, Calvin Wright, who was fired.
Donald G. Derrico, an attorney for the tour company, declined to comment.
Hershenhorn said the bus operator settled with Sipher immediately after the trial for a significant sum that was lower than the jury award.
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