The widow of a city Department of Sanitation worker who was crushed to death by a runaway street sweeper won a $41.5 million negligence award against the city Tuesday.
The Queens jury granted the massive sum to Bina Frosch, who lost her husband Steven Frosch, 43, when the vehicle pinned him inside a city garage in Maspeth in June 2014. At the time, the couple’s four children were ages 11, 8, 3 and 7 weeks.
“The loss has been unbearable for me and my four children, and it always will be,” Bina Frosch told The Post.
Her lawyer, Ben Rubinowitz, said his client’s husband “was killed as the result of negligence of a fellow Sanitation worker.”
The wrongful-death suit claimed that city employee Antonio G. DeCaro “negligently took his foot off the brake pedal without putting his vehicle in park,” causing the accident.
DeCaro blamed the incident on faulty equipment. The city is on the hook for the eight-figure judgment since DeCaro was driving the street sweeper as part of his job. Modal Trigger
A funeral was held at Catherine of Sienna for NYC Sanitation worker Steven Frosch.VICTORALCORN.COM The jury gave the family $40 million for future economic loss because Frosch was ready to retire from the Sanitation Department to become a financial planner, Rubinowtiz said.
“I am grateful to the jury for understanding how important Steven was to all of us,” his widow said.
Jurors awarded another $1.5 million for “conscious pain and suffering” after learning that Frosch was alive for 2 to 3 minutes before succumbing to his injuries.
He had been on the job for 18 years and was fixing his own street sweeper when he was hit by his colleague’s vehicle.
It took the jury of four women and two men just 1.5 hours to come back with the judgment Tuesday afternoon. The trial lasted a week.
“We’re very pleased with the verdict,” said Rubinowtiz, who tried the case with law partner Peter Saghir.
“It’s a heart-wrenching story,” Rubinowitz said, “four children lost their father and a wife lost her husband at age 43.”
A city Law Department spokesman said “the city recognizes that this was a tragedy and did not contest. However, the city believes that the jury’s verdict exceeds the reasonable limits that have been recognized by appellate courts and will pursue its legal options to reduce the award.”
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A city sanitation worker died Saturday when he was crushed under a street sweeper in Queens, police said. Steven Frosch, 43, was making adjustments to his sweeper inside the Department of Sanitation garage on 48th St. in Maspeth when he was hit by the driver of another sweeper who failed to see him about 1 p.m., officials said.
Frosch, a married father of four who worked for the department for 15 years, died at the scene.
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Beloved Sanitation worker mourned
Steven Frosch was killed on the job Saturday, leaving a family behind
GO FUND ME PHOTO
Steven Frosch, a 15-year veteran of the Sanitation Department, was killed last Saturday in Maspeth when he was pinned between two street sweepers. Over $40,000 had already been raised online for his family by Wednesday morning.
Posted: Thursday, June 26, 2014 10:30 am
by Christopher Barca, Reporter
By all indications, Steven Frosch was a man who cared more about his family than anything else.
He even left his job as an NYPD officer in 1999 after five years for another city position in a safer line of work.
But on Saturday, Frosch, a 15-year veteran of the Sanitation Department, was killed in an accident inside the Queens West 5A garage at 58-02 48 St. in Maspeth where he worked.
According to police, the Garden City South, LI resident was performing maintenance on a street sweeper when a second street sweeper, driven by a colleague, accidentally struck him, pinning him between the vehicles.
When police arrived, he was unconscious and unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS.
Frosch, a 1989 graduate of St. Francis Prep, leaves behind a wife and four children, the youngest child being just 2 months old.
“We are deeply saddened to learn of the loss of one of New York City’s Strongest today while on the job in service of our city,” Mayor de Blasio said in a statement over the weekend. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Steven Frosch’s family — especially his wife and four children — as well as his friends and fellow Sanitation workers.”
Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia also mourned Frosch’s death.
“Visits to his garage reveal a man deeply admired and loved by his colleagues, many of whom were his dear friends,” Garcia said. “This will be a week of mourning, but I have already seen the strength and compassion for our fellow employees as we grieve.”
A page on the popular fundraising website Go Fund Me was set up in Frosch’s name on Sunday, with a goal of $10,000.
By 11 a.m. on Wednesday, just four days after the tragic accident, $40,095 had already been raised for Frosch’s family.
Donations ranged from $20 to $1,000 on Tuesday alone, with dozens of people donating more than $100.
Comments from family members and mere acquaintances alike poured in just as the dollars did.
“Steve, I did not know you very well but I remember the bright spirit you had,” one man wrote. “May God watch over your family and bring peace to them.”
Frosch’s brother-in-law, Joe Cuz, also commented on the page, calling his sister’s husband one of the best men he ever met.
“Steve, you will be missed. I want to say thank you for everything you’ve done,” Cuz wrote. “I will always, for the rest of my life, think of you when I look at [Frosch’s children].”
Funeral services will be held Friday morning at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Franklin Square, LI.