$250G in fatal cop-biker crash

THE CITY will pay more than $250,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a Bronx man who was injured and saw his best friend die in the street after a police cruiser slammed into the dirt bike they were riding, the Daily News has learned.

Adalberto Gonzalez, 28, was ultimately found guilty of reckless driving for the August 2012 incident in Hunts Point because cops saw him riding a second unlicensed dirt bike before the crash.

But his two more serious charges, resisting arrest and reckless endangerment, were dismissed, and his only penalty was an $80 fine.

“I am glad that I can now get on with my life,” Gonzalez said of the Manhattan Federal Court settlement. The man killed in the crash was 28-year-old Eddie Fernandez, whose mother has a separate lawsuit against the city pending in Bronx Supreme Court.

An Internal Affairs Bureau investigation cleared officers Edward McClain and Fernando Santos of wrongdoing, describing the crash as an accident, according to an NYPD memo obtained by The News.

But a Civilian Complaint Review Board investigation in January found McClain recklessly hit Gonzalez with his police cruiser twice. “This case should serve as a red flag in the department to look at how police are responding to motor bikes they observe,” said Jonathan Moore, a lawyer for Gonzalez.