Video of NYC garbage truck nicking pedestrian was worth whopping $50M verdict to Bronx jury
Darcy Bottex has been unable to work since he was struck by a garbage truck. Helayne Seidman
A Bronx man who was struck by a city garbage truck while crossing Bruckner Boulevard in 2021 has been awarded a staggering $50.7 million verdict by a jury.
The September 2021 incident, captured on video, shows construction foreman Darcy Bottex, wearing a white hard hat and bright orange shirt, walking back to his work site after a quick stop at a deli when the truck hit his left arm, sending him sprawling onto the pavement.
Bottex, now 43, got back on his feet as the truck completed a left-hand turn. “The truck was actually about to run over my foot. I pulled my leg back,” he told The Post. “I barely escaped it. I got hit directly in my arm and shoulder—that’s why I went flying the way I did. My arm was instantly purple.”
Two days later, Bottex realized the full extent of his injuries. “I was like, wait, hold on—I can’t turn my head too much,” he said.
The father of two has undergone three surgeries—one on his shoulder and two on his neck—and continues to suffer from permanent pain. He has been unable to return to work since the accident. “I can’t look down for too long, can’t look up for too long. It’s very draining. Constantly, 24 hours a day, there’s not a moment that passes that I don’t feel pain,” he said.
Bottex filed a lawsuit against the city for unspecified damages in January 2022 in Bronx Supreme Court. On October 28, the jury returned its eye-popping decision. “The verdict is really like a dream come true,” Bottex said. “I haven’t been able to do anything. I can’t really provide for myself, I rely on family. After a while, it starts mentally affecting you.”
He plans to use the award to support his family after years of depending on relatives following his injuries.
“Mr. Bottex incurred severe personal injuries which he is forced to cope with for the rest of his life,” said his attorney, Jason Herbert, noting that Bottex had been supervising 30 workers at the time of the accident.
A city Law Department spokesman, Nicholas Paolucci, said the city “respects but disagrees with the jury’s verdict, which is excessive based on the evidence presented.” He added the city is reviewing “all legal options” and had argued during the trial that Bottex shared some responsibility because he was on his cell phone at the time of the accident.
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