A broken traffic light was green in every direction, and now a Bronx man wants the city to cough up some green for the crash that ensued.
Jonathan Diaz, 31, blames the collision, which damaged his spinal column and right shoulder, on a traffic light that gave both him and a livery-cab driver who broadsided his Honda Accord the right of way.
“I found out later that the light wasn’t working when I got the police report,” said the father of three kids, ages 6, 5 and 2, who now survives on disability. “Now I can’t even lift up my right arm or bend down. I can’t even pick up my own kids. I feel helpless.”
Diaz filed a petition requesting that the Bronx Supreme Court allow him to sue the city because he didn’t file a notice of claim with the city Comptroller’s Office within 90 days after the March 11 crash in the Bathgate section of The Bronx.
Diaz was heading south on Webster Avenue when a Lincoln Town Car exiting the expressway hit the passenger side of his Honda.
The police report indicated that the light was “improper/nonworking” and that “both drivers claimed that they were facing a green traffic light signal.”
“I can’t do any physical activity now,” Diaz said.