The city will have to pay a Gerritsen Beach teenager who was left disabled and with brain damage after he was hit by a speeding car on Gerritsen Avenue $19 million, a jury ruled this week.
A Brooklyn Supreme Court jury said the city was responsible for the injuries Anthony Turturro, now 19, sustained in 2004 when he was hit by a speeding car while riding his bicycle home from a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony.
The panel found that officials ignored residents’ repeated requests for reduced speed limits on the road leading up to the accident when Turturro was hit by a red Honda traveling 55 miles per hour in the 30 mile per hour zone.
The award was part of a $36 million verdict handed down in May, and first reported on Monday by the New York Post.
The teen’s mother Ellie Turturro said the crash left her son permanently disabled.
“Anthony will need help for the rest of his life,” she told the Post.
The jury also found the driver, Louis Pascarella, was 50 percent responsible for the accident.
Both Pascarella and the city postponed the payout by appealing the case.
Kate Ahlers, a spokeswoman for the city’s Law Department, called the crash a “tragic situation.”
“However, we do disagree with the jury’s verdict,” Ahlers said.
Turturro spent two years after the accident in rehab, and still suffers from brain damage from the crash.
Pascarella could not be reached for comment.
