State paying $8 million in bike-crash settlement

SEATTLE — The Washington Transportation Department has agreed to pay $8 million to settle a a lawsuit with a bike rider who crashed when his tire caught in a Seattle bridge grate.

Mickey Gendler was paralyzed from the neck down in the crash in October 2007 on the Montlake Bridge.

Gendler’s lawsuit claimed a gap between steel panels was more than a half-inch wide — wide enough to catch a bike tire.

In the settlement in Thurston County Superior Court, the seattlepi.com reports Tuesday that neither side admitted fault.

The Transportation Department has since filled the gap with epoxy to prevent more accidents.

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