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The city of San Diego is paying $1.75 million to a veteran bicyclist who crashed due to uneven pavement.
Michael Cizauskas suffered head, shoulder, leg injuries, and a "traumatic brain injury" five years ago after tree-damaged pavement in a Carmel Valley bike land launched him into the air, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The settlement is one of the largest in San Diego for a bicycle crash. In 2017, a Del Cerro resident received $4.85 million from the city after they tore a spinal cord ligament in a crash caused by a buckled sidewalk.
The community has become increasingly worried about bicycle safety in the wake of multiple cycling fatalities on San Diego streets.
City officials have prioritized adding more bike lanes across San Diego in recent years because of the city's climate action plan. The plan calls for more people to commute by bike and on foot.
Cizauskas will also receive $1 million from a landscape contractor and $30,000 from a tree contractor, which brings the total settlement to almost $2.8 million, according to the Union-Tribune.
The crash occurred just after 3:00 P.M. on May 22, 2016, while riding westbound in the 12500 block of Carmel Canyon Road.
His attorney, Kane Handel said Cizauskas has mostly recovered from the brain trauma but he will never be able to move normally again.