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Widow of city worker killed by street sweeper awarded $41.5M

The widow of a city Department of Sanitation worker who was crushed to death by a runaway street sweeper won a $41.5 million negligence award against the city Tuesday.

The Queens jury granted the massive sum to Bina Frosch, who lost her husband Steven Frosch, 43, when the vehicle pinned him inside a city garage in Maspeth in June 2014. At the time, the couple’s four children were ages 11, 8, 3 and 7 weeks.

“The loss has been unbearable for me and my four children, and it always will be,” Bina Frosch told The Post.

Her lawyer, Ben Rubinowitz, said his client’s husband “was killed as the result of negligence of a fellow Sanitation worker.”

The wrongful-death suit claimed that city employee Antonio G. DeCaro “negligently took his foot off the brake pedal without putting his vehicle in park,” causing the accident.

DeCaro blamed the incident on faulty equipment. The city is on the hook for the eight-figure judgment since DeCaro was driving the street sweeper as part of his job.

A funeral was held at Catherine of Sienna for NYC Sanitation worker Steven Frosch.VICTORALCORN.COM

The jury gave the family $40 million for future economic loss because Frosch was ready to retire from the Sanitation Department to become a financial planner, Rubinowtiz said.

“I am grateful to the jury for understanding how important Steven was to all of us,” his widow said.

Jurors awarded another $1.5 million for “conscious pain and suffering” after learning that Frosch was alive for 2 to 3 minutes before succumbing to his injuries.

He had been on the job for 18 years and was fixing his own street sweeper when he was hit by his colleague’s vehicle.

It took the jury of four women and two men just 1.5 hours to come back with the judgment Tuesday afternoon. The trial lasted a week.

“We’re very pleased with the verdict,” said Rubinowtiz, who tried the case with law partner Peter Saghir.

“It’s a heart-wrenching story,” Rubinowitz said, “four children lost their father and a wife lost her husband at age 43.”

A city Law Department spokesman said “the city recognizes that this was a tragedy and did not contest. However, the city believes that the jury’s verdict exceeds the reasonable limits that have been recognized by appellate courts and will pursue its legal options to reduce the award.”