A cancer patient left partially paralyzed after she was struck by a city bus on the Lower East Side has won a staggering $72.5 million judgment against the MTA — one of the largest ever against the agency.
“I was just delighted. I was in shock. I didn’t even know how many numbers it was,” said Aurora Beauchamp, who suffered a crushed pelvis, significant nerve damage to her left leg and injuries so bad on the right leg she’s had an open wound for years.
Beauchamp, now 68, was crossing the street just before 9 p.m. on March 6, 2017, when bus driver Eduard Khanimov made a right turn onto East Houston Street from Avenue D, slamming the M14 bus into the mom of two and pinning her under the vehicle for about 20 minutes.
She remained conscious throughout the ordeal and saw the vehicle’s tire “coming for her head,” her lawyer, Edward Cooper, told the six-person jury, which took less than three hours to reach its Feb. 22 decision.
The verdict against the MTA is believed to be a record-setting decision for a victim of a bus accident, Beauchamp’s lawyers said.
In 2019, a Brooklyn jury gave $110 million to a man paralyzed from the waist down after construction workers on elevated train tracks dropped a railroad tie on him.
Beauchamp, who now uses a wheelchair, grew up blocks from the crash scene and had been walking to her mom’s apartment to tell the older woman of her uterine cancer diagnosis, when she was struck.
“I’ve crossed that street 100 million times in my lifetime,” she told The Post.
“I was feeling good. The next thing I know I’m under the bus fighting for my life.”
“Because the bus was turning it missed my head. The first thought that came to mind …’Cancer’s not going to take me out, but this is,'” said Beauchamp, who now lives in Bradenton, Fla.
Beauchamp and her husband of 43 years, Saul, sued the MTA and Khanimov in November 2017 for unspecified damages, and the MTA fought the case for seven years before a 30-day trial returned the historic verdict.
The Manhattan jury gave the couple $25 million for past pain and suffering; $32 million for future pain and suffering, and $8.5 million for future medical services.
The verdict, which was first reported by WPIX11, includes $7 million to Saul, 64, for the past and future loss of services and companionship with his wife.
The couple will use the money to hire aides for Beauchamp; buy a wheelchair-accessible vehicle; remodel their bathrooms or find a new home, she said.
“It’s going to make life a lot easier,” said Beauchamp, who praised her husband for taking care of her “every day without one complaint.”
Khanimov was arrested and later pleaded guilty to failing to yield to a pedestrian.
He still works for the MTA as a cleaner.
“The MTA has spent years attempting to minimize the profound impact these injuries have had upon Ms. Beauchamp’s life,” said her attorney, Edward Cooper.
“We are glad the jurors saw through this attempt to deprive her of justice and hope the verdict serves as a message to the MTA to treat future victims of their negligence fairly and compassionately.”