TOMS RIVER – After being left blind in one eye from a crash with a mail truck, a teen is getting nearly $2 million in a settlement of a case against the federal government.
According to reports, in November of 2016, a 13-year-old Toms River boy was in the back seat of a Jeep on Washington Street when a U.S. Postal Service worker from Lakewood turned left onto Central Avenue, hitting the Jeep’s passenger-side fender, police said. As a result, the impact caused the car to spin into a tree.
The boy had suffered severe injuries such as facial bone fractures and a cut that permanently blinded him in the right eye, as well as psychological injuries.
Claims were made by federal attorneys saying the teen was not wearing a seatbelt at the time and wouldn’t have suffered such serious injuries if he wore one.
The boy, who is now 18 years old, has settled the suit for $1.965 million. According to documents, the driver and another passenger, who were also juveniles at the time, each submitted separate claims of their own.
