Town of Hempstead approves $2.5M bond for crash victim

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The Hempstead Town Board last month approved a $2.5 million bond to cover a settlement to a driver who was injured in a crash with a town sand truck in Oceanside in 2013.

The board unanimously voted last month to approve the settlement, which will be paid to Danny Miller and his wife, Josephine Miller. Josephine was not in the vehicle during the crash. Garden City-based attorney Joseph Dell represented the Millers.

A Hempstead Town highway truck struck Danny Miller’s box truck on Long Beach Road at West Windsor Parkway on Feb. 3, 2013, after the driver of the town truck ran through a red light. Miller was headed to a job in Oceanside when the driver of the highway truck made an illegal U-turn and hit Miller’s truck at the four-way intersection. The town truck was out sanding the road, but it was not snowing at the time of the crash. Members of the Oceanside Fire Department had to use rescue equipment to free Miller from his truck, and he was seriously injured.

Hempstead officials did not return a request for comment and did not identify the town employee involved in the crash.

At the meeting, Town Attorney Joe Ra said that the crash caused Miller to have to use a wheelchair and that he could not speak after it. The effects were a result of many orthopedic injuries to Miller, who later had a stroke caused by blood clots, which limited his ability to talk and caused neurological impairments. The sand truck driver was not injured in the accident.

During a civil trial in Nassau County Supreme Court on Sept. 28, the jury found that the town was fully liable for the crash and Miller’s injuries. The town offered to settle damages for pain and suffering at $2.5 million and unanimously voted on the bond at its Nov. 13 meeting.