A woman who was the victim of a hit-and-run accident in New York City 10 years ago has finally made a major breakthrough in her case, according to reports. Amney. On July 1, after a decade of legal battles, Brooklyn’s appellate court ruled that the city was liable for the ambulance crash that left her with debilitating injuries.
In 2016, Eliana Boyer, a transgender woman, was riding her bicycle through the intersection of Bond Street and Union Street in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood when an ambulance suddenly passed through the intersection and hit her. The ambulance drove away without stopping to help her.
Witnesses corroborated many of Boyer’s accounts of the incident, including that the light was green to her and the vehicle looked like a red and white FDNY ambulance. She suffered multiple serious injuries in the crash, including permanent damage, including a concussion, torn knee ligaments, chronic nerve damage and pain, and spinal and shoulder damage that required surgery.
These injuries reportedly left Boyer unable to work for several years and put him in serious financial trouble. And as statistics consistently show, maintaining a steady income is already a major challenge for many transgender people. According to data from Williams Institute at UCLA School of LawThe majority of trans workers (82%) have experienced discrimination or harassment in the workplace because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, including being fired, not hired, denied promotion, and verbal, physical, or sexual harassment.
Aeliana Boyer stands at the intersection where the hit-and-run accident occurred.Kevin C. Downs of the New York Daily News
When Boyer filed a lawsuit against the city and the fire department after the accident, city officials initially denied that the vehicle that hit Boyer was an FDNY ambulance. To seek compensation, Boyer needed to prove that the vehicle was indeed the city’s official ambulance.
The case ultimately went to trial in 2024, with a jury unanimously finding FDNY vehicles at fault for the accident based on GPS data. However, Boyer’s victory did not last long. Shortly after the trial, a Kings County Superior Court judge reversed the jury’s verdict and dismissed the case, saying Boyer had not sufficiently established that he was a city ambulance worker.
Judge Richard Montelione said: “There is no question that a collision occurred between the ambulance and the plaintiff’s cyclist.” court documents“GPS evidence clearly indicates that an FDNY ambulance was present at the approximate time and location of the accident.” Despite this evidence, Montelione cited inconsistencies in Boyer’s description of the gender of the ambulance crew as a reason for his decision.
Boyer testified that the ambulance that struck her appeared to have two female crew members. However, a male staff member was in the vehicle that was linked to the accident scene through GPS tracking. Montelione also noted that Boyer said he did not specifically remember seeing the FDNY insignia, creating a reasonable doubt that it was not a city vehicle.
FDNY ambulanceKarolis Cavorelis/Shutterstock
Although Monterlione is openly gay, many wondered whether anti-transgender bias influenced his decision, as he seemed particularly concerned about the inconsistency of the crew’s gender portrayal. But Ms Boyer’s supporters argued that the dismissal was unfair given that she had just suffered serious injuries and the vehicle quickly fled the scene. (Boyer also used to told the Daily News She said she was abused based on her gender identity by other emergency workers who later showed up to treat her. )
And now, a full 10 years after the incident, Boyer sees a possible light at the end of the tunnel after an appeals court reinstated the jury’s original verdict last week. Now that the city has been officially recognized as responsible for the accident, it will finally be able to sue for damages.
“[Boyer] “Notwithstanding the discrepancies in Plaintiff’s descriptions of the ambulance driver and passengers, Plaintiff is entitled to presume that the jury believed her testimony and that of another witness who identified the red and white ambulance as an FDNY ambulance,” the court panel said.
Following this latest ruling, Boyer, who continues to struggle with basic living and medical expenses related to the accident, expressed his “heartfelt gratitude” to his supporters. GoFundMe page Made for her.
“Unfortunately, the fight is not completely over,” supporter Jacqueline Mary wrote on the page. “Winning the liability trial gives her the right to seek damages from the city. She is currently preparing for her next trial with the city.”
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
