The MTA says one of its bridges and tunnels officers has died from injuries suffered over a year ago on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
Officer Thomas Choi died Monday at Staten Island University Hospital. The MTA said the 62-year-old officer was struck and critically injured by a vehicle as he was reopening the Brooklyn-bound lower level roadway the morning of Oct. 20, 2013.
Choi sustained severe pelvic and head injuries and never regained consciousness.
The 26-year-old Bayonne, New Jersey, woman whose car struck him had remained at the scene and was not charged.
The MTA said Choi was the first bridge and tunnel officer to die in the line of duty in the 81-year history of MTA Bridges and Tunnels, also known as the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. Choi was removing barrels from a closed roadway when he was struck.
“Officer Choi dedicated himself to serving and protecting everyone who travels the bridges and tunnels that unite New York, and all of us at the MTA join in mourning him,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast in a statement. “We send our deepest condolences to his family.”
Choi, a Staten Island resident, had joined the MTA in 2003.
