The mother of an actress who was killed in a hit-and-run accident near Union Square is suing the city for $30 million.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Christina Oprea says her daughter, Roxana Sorina Buta, was crossing 14th St. and Broadway with the light when she was run over and crushed by a city dump truck.
The Department of Transportation truck never stopped, despite hitting the 21-year-old head on.
Police caught up to the still-publicly unidentified driver six days later, but he was never charged criminally.
The driver didn’t “even get a traffic ticket,” the suit says.
“I’t’s inconceivable to me that a girl crosses with the light, gets run over by a New York City owned dump truck, and nothing happens,” said the family’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina.
The legal eagle said the intersection where the accident happened is “one of the most dangerous in the city” – noting that somebody else was hit by a cab while Buta’s friends and family held a rally at the corner in her memory a month later.
The suit says the city was well aware the intersection was dangerous, and had done nothing to make it safer.
“They have to do something about this intersection,” Tacopina said.
He noted that Buta was her heartbroken mom’s only child.
“All she’s living for now is to make sure Roxy didn’t die in vain – to make sure the intersection is changed and made safer to make those responsible for her death be held accountable,” Tacopina said.
The suit also names the John Doe driver and the makers of the dump truck, and suggests that a dip in the pavement might also have contributed to deadly crash by interfering with driver’s sightlines.
In a statement, the city Law Department said, “We recognize that this case involves tragic circumstances. We will review the legal papers when we receive them.”
The NYPD did not return an email for comment.