{"id":308260,"date":"2026-07-29T01:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T01:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/308260\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T01:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T01:39:08","slug":"nyc-driver-wins-10-5m-settlement-after-brain-injuries-from-george-washington-bridge-debris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/308260\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC driver wins $10.5M settlement after brain injuries from George Washington Bridge debris"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lucky-to-be-alive Bronx driver scored a whopping $10.5 million settlement after metal debris on the George Washington Bridge smashed into his windshield and through his head, leaving him with life-altering brain injuries, court papers show.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Joseph Rosario \u2014 28 at the time \u2014 was driving over the span on March 2, 2020, when a 24-inch steel suspension from a truck that had been lying on the roadway catapulted into his 2015 Chrysler 200. The metal gruesomely shot directly through Rosario\u2019s head, striking his skull so hard that the debris landed in his back seat, according to the lawsuit, which was filed that August in Essex, New Jersey, court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joseph Rosario was crossing the bridge on March 2, 2020, when a 24-inch steel suspension from a truck busted through his windshield.\u00a0 USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

He was rushed to Hackensack Meridian Health, where he had to undergo multiple brain surgeries \u2014\u00a0Rosario\u2019s skull was fractured, and he suffered from significant brain swelling, court papers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow he lived is a miracle,\u201d Rosario\u2019s attorney Ed Capozzi told NJ.com.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Capozzi said his team then launched a probe into how long the debris had been left on the bridge\u2019s roadway, sorting through tons of driver dash cam footage and dozens of Port Authority video logs, according to the lawsuit, which named the Port Authority.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They found the piece of truck\u2019s suspension that struck Rosario had been sitting on the ground for at least 10 minutes, the attorney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know it had been there for that [ten minutes] long, we could see cars avoiding it and changing lanes at that location,\u201d he told the outlet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rosario\u2019s skull was fractured by the rogue debris, and he suffered from brain swelling, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in 2020. \u00a0 Andriy Blokhin \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

The attorney\u2019s team discovered 12 incidents of cars being hit by debris on the bridge, with Capozzi adding \u201cthose are the ones we know about,\u201d according to\u00a0NJ.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He blasted the Port Authority \u2014 the New York-New Jersey agency that owns, operates and maintains the George Washington Bridge \u2014 for not properly cleaning the debris for days and leaving the metal object that struck Rosario on the bridge\u2019s roadway. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey should have done a better job maintaining the bridge,\u201d Capozzi told the outlet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey walk the bridge once a day and pick up four pickup trucks worth of debris. They hadn\u2019t done that for five days before the accident.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rosario\u2019s lawyer, Ed Capozzi, said his team launched an investigation into how long the debris had been on the bridge, sorting through tons of driver dash cam footage and dozens of Port Authority video logs.\u00a0 gilya3 \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

The $10.5 million settlement was reached on June 17, but Rosario\u2019s life has been changed forever, according to his attorney.<\/p>\n

Despite receiving treatment and rehabilitation for his injuries, Capozzi said he\u2019s now forced to use a wheelchair and needs his parents to take care of him. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will never be the same again,\u201d the attorney said.<\/p>\n

The Port Authority did not immediately respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lucky-to-be-alive Bronx driver scored a whopping $10.5 million settlement after metal debris on the George Washington Bridge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[318,26802,2850,57,9,56,63,65,64,12621,58],"class_list":["post-308260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-freak-accidents","tag-george-washington-bridge","tag-lawsuits","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-port-authority","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}