SACRAMENTO COUNTY CA. - The jury deliberated for nearly three days before awarding millions to a former young doctor, who was permanently disabled after getting hit by a car.
The jury decided the majority of the blame belonged to the city of Sacramento because the Land Park crosswalk was just too dangerous.
"It's a pretty intense case," Juror Wiley Brown said.
Brown sat through the two week trial and heard why some city planners considered the crosswalk unsafe.
"Some of the evidence we saw described it as the Bermuda Triangle of Sacramento," Brown said.
Former Mayor Heather Fargo even testified about the danger of that crosswalk.
Nearly four years ago, a 25-year-old Cathy Liu had just started her residency at UC Davis Medical center. She was jogging through that crosswalk when a car struck her. The accident left her with brain damage.
The jury awarded Liu $16 million. Jurors felt the city knew about the danger and believe the accident ended Liu's promising medical career.
"Her livelihood was cut short the morning that she got hit," Brown said.
Some major changes have come about since the accident.
The busy two lane street used to travel in one direction. Now, it's one lane in both directions. People don't have to go as far to cross the the street.
And, now, a pedestrian-activated signal light protects the crosswalk.
"They had redone it after the fact. It's totally a different place now than the morning of the accident," said Brown.
Linda Tucker, a spokeswoman for the Sacramento Department of Transportation said the intersection has always been safe.
"The traffic signal was added as a result of converting Freeport from one way to two way, which was a plan the city had dating back to the mid 90s," Tucker said. "As part of the legal agreement before the trial, we are precluded from appealing."
Because of a previous agreement between the attorneys, instead of paying the entire $16 million to Liu, the city's liability will be capped at $6 million; insurance will cover $4 million of that.
By Suzanne Phan, sphan@news10.net
Twitter: @suzannephan
News10/KXTV