Steve Neavling
Bruce Wood was struck by a tire from a municipal truck at this intersection at Rosa Parks Boulevard and West Grand Boulevard.
Bruce Wood didn’t see the careening tire until it was about a foot away from his face.
In July 2015, Wood was crossing the street at the intersection of Rosa Parks Boulevard and West Grand Boulevard in Detroit when the tire spun off a municipal van and struck him in the head.
Wood, a 59-year-old veteran, sustained catastrophic, life-altering injuries that robbed him of his memories and a third of his brain.
Following a nearly two-week trial in Wayne County Circuit Court on Thursday, a jury found Detroit negligent and ordered the city to pay Wood $8.3 million.
“My client suffered a traumatic brain injury where he lost one-third of his brain, facial fractures, a fractured clavicle, ruptured eardrums and other horrific injuries as a result of the DDOT’s carelessness,” Wood’s attorney Jon Marko, who filed a personal injury lawsuit against the city eight years ago, said. “While the jury issued a just verdict, Mr. Wood will suffer from these injuries for life.”
The tire came off the rear of a Ford E-350 Econoline van used by the Detroit Department of Transportation. During an inspection of the axle and lug nuts, it was discovered that there were no shear pins holding the tires onto the vehicle.
“The City had not properly inspected or maintained the vehicle, which is unacceptable practice endangering people and downright alarming,” Marko said.
Wood sustained permanent mental and physical disabilities, Marko said.
During the trial, Wood testified that he has trouble recalling what made him happy.
“It’s like they put me through an eraser machine,” Wood said. “It’s like the old Bruce is gone and this is the new Bruce, and I don’t like the new Bruce.”
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