Artist Visaya Hoffie, 23, was visiting the city last month when she fell onto the subway tracks and was run over by multiple train carriages.
Hoffie was placed in intensive care and had both lower legs amputated, as well as receiving multiple serious head and back injuries, her mother Pat Hoffie said on Facebook.
“In the words of the investigating police, ‘it’s a miracle she survived’,” Pat Hoffie said.
Hoffie is exploring the option of suing New York authorities, including the Port Authority and Metropolitan Transportation Authority, for negligence.
Her lawyer, Jesse Minc, has filed a petition in the Manhattan Supreme Court to preserve and obtain evidence around the case with the intent of establishing the facts.
‘Egregious negligence‘
“We will pursue those claims (of negligence), using all available remedies, against anybody who bears any responsibility for this really terrible tragedy that happened to this poor girl,” Minc told 7NEWS.com.au.
“We are going to fight like hell to make sure she gets justice. That’s all I can promise and that’s what I will deliver.
“We’re going to make sure they have no choice but to take it seriously.
“Based on the facts as I understand them, in these preliminary stages, there was egregious negligence, and she’s entitled to a substantial amount of compensation.”
Hoffie, in a sworn statement accompanying the petition, claims sensors to alert train operators to objects on tracks failed to kick in, the New York Post reports.
The affidavit also reportedly claims she was run over by two trains - not one, as Pat Hoffie had previously said.
“We’re going to find out exactly what the details of all this are,” Minc said.
“(I hope) when a terrible tragedy happens, whoever’s responsible, especially when it’s the government, takes notice and takes steps to improve safety where it was once lacking.
“I just want justice for this girl.
‘There was egregious negligence and she’s entitled to a substantial amount of compensation.’
“This is a terrible thing for such a young person. She’s got a marathon ahead of her.
“She’s a strong-willed girl, bright, smiley, bubbly.
“She is somebody who deserves compensation because this should not have happened.”
This story first appeared on 7NEWS and has been republished here with permission.
