The Chicago Transit Authority will pay a $3 million settlement to a man whose leg was amputated after he was hit by bus on the West Side.
A Cook County judge approved the settlement Wednesday between the CTA and 80-year-old Raymond Baroud, who was struck by a turning bus in November 2018 while he crossed Madison Street at Pulaski Road, according to the Cavanagh Law Group.
His attorney’s argued that the bus driver should have seen Baroud.
“Although Baroud was not in the crosswalk, the contact was avoidable because he was clearly visible during the daylight incident,” his attorneys said in a statement.
The CTA contended that Baroud was in the bus driver’s blind spot, but surveillance video of the crash allegedly showed that the driver should have seen him, Baroud’s attorneys said.
Baroud was “fighting for his life” in a coma in the days after the incident, and had his left leg amputated above the knee, his attorneys said. He now lives in an assisted living center.
“Our client can no longer live independently as a result of the CTA bus driver’s negligence,” Baroud’s attorney, Tim Cavanagh, said. “Through expert testimony, a meticulous accident reconstruction and surveillance video, we proved the driver was not paying attention when he turned the corner.”
Videos of the incident released by the Cavanagh Law Group shows the crash from multiple angles. As the bus turns slowly from Pulaski onto Madison, the video shows Baroud fall under the front right tire of the bus.
In an emailed statement, the CTA said: “The case was mediated by the parties and a mutually agreeable settlement of $3 million was reached, given the serious nature of the injury involved.”
The driver remains employed by the CTA, although he no longer works as a driver, according to a CTA spokesperson.
In 2015 and 2016, the CTA paid out more than $16 million in settlements and legal expenses, the Sun-Times has reported. In that two year span, CTA buses were involved in more than 500 crashes, with injuries reported by about 550 bus riders, 250 bus drivers, 200 other drivers, 55 pedestrians and 20 bicyclists. Five of those injuries were fatal.
