The city has shelled out $11.5 million to the brilliant young Google engineer whose life and body were shattered by a falling tree limb in Central Park.
Sasha Blair-Goldensohn, 37, was heading to work on July 29, 2009, when the 100-pound limb suddenly split from an oak tree along Central Park West, slamming into his slender, 5-foot-11 frame, fracturing his skull and partially severing his spine.
The shocking incident was one of a series in an 11-month span when falling limbs from allegedly neglected trees in Central Park severely injured or killed four people — including a baby girl mortally crushed while being cradled in her mother’s arms in June 2010.
Karla Del Gallo and Michael Ricciutti filed a $50 million claim in the death of their 6-month-old daughter, Gianna Marie Ricciutti. The case is slated for mediation later this month.
But at least three other lawsuits filed against the city in the tragedies have been settled.
In April, the city agreed to pay $3 million to the family of Elmaz Qyra, who was killed in February 2010. Last week, Queens resident Roberta Colores-Martinez reached a $750,000 settlement — the city will pay $100,000 of that, two private tree companies will pay the rest — for a May 2010 skull fracture.
But the 2012 payout to Blair-Goldensohn, an Upper West Side father of two, dwarfs the others.
He has never spoken publicly about the incident, but court records give a glimpse into the software engineer’s plight.
It was about 8 a.m. when Blair-Goldensohn left for work at Google’s Chelsea office, telling his wife, Rebecca Min, he would “try to get some exercise in,” and hoof it from their West End Avenue apartment to catch the subway at Columbus Circle, she recalled in a 2009 court transcript.
Two police officers knocked on her door around 10 a.m. and minutes later rushed Min to Weill Cornell Medical Center. “He was lying on a stretcher . . . He was covered in blood,” she said. “He was unconscious. He wasn’t moving. He had, you know, a neck brace, bandages all over him. He was a mess.”
Blair-Goldensohn endured months of rehab, learning everything from how to swallow to how to use a wheelchair.
Seven months later, Blair-Goldensohn returned home to Min, their infant son, Theo, and toddler daughter, Sophie.
“It was incredibly overwhelming for everyone, for me, for my husband, for everyone helping us,” Min said. “It was really tough and exhausting for both of us.”
A 2010 deposition describes Blair-Goldensohn as having “incomplete paraplegia,” because his spine was not completely severed. His progress was hampered by medical emergencies and repeated surgeries, as the shunt inserted into his brain to relieve swelling failed.
“It was one crisis after another,” his wife said.
The devoted wife-turned-caretaker told a city lawyer during the deposition her husband’s accident has changed everything for the family. “We sort of had an idea of how our lives would sort of play out,” she said.
And now “my life has veered off course.”
An arborist had labeled the 15-foot limb that hit Blair-Goldensohn dangerous 20 days before it fell, but it was not immediately removed, according to a published report. Likewise, the fatal American elm branch that killed Qyra had been catalogued for removal two months before his death, but wasn’t.
The city spent $4.7 on tree pruning in 2008, but that number had declined to $1.45 million in recent years. The budget has since been boosted to $3.45 million.
The city called the settlements appropriate.
“We hope they have brought a measure of closure to the plaintiffs’ families. Ensuring that parks are safe and enjoyable for residents and visitors is vitally important. New York City dedicates substantial resources to this work every year,” a city spokeswoman said.