Gran gets $10M for loss of leg

A BROOKLYN grandmother who lost her lower leg after a crazed driver slammed into her at a city bus stop won a $10.5 million verdict on Wednesday, the Daily News has learned.

A civil jury awarded the sum to 63-year-old Deborah Munize, whose life was changed forever at 5:15 a.m. on April 14, 2012, as she waited to take the bus to church.

That’s when a black 2004 Ford Crown Victoria, driven by then-20-year-old Maximo Espinal, jumped the curb at Montrose and Graham Aves. in Williamsburg.

Espinal struck the seated woman — and smashed the bus shelter — then drove off.

But he left the car’s bumper and license plate in the middle of the street.

Investigators tracked Espinal to his home, but didn’t find him there. Just before 10 a.m., Espinal turned himself in at the 90th Precinct stationhouse.

He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and served two years in prison.

Munize, a retired peace officer with the city’s Human Resources Administration, had to have her left leg amputated below the knee. She’s endured three surgeries for severe fractures of her right leg and has required extended hospital stays.

She resides with her daughter’s family and uses a prosthetic leg, a rolling walker and wheelchair to get around on her own, said her attorney Richard Levy.

“She lives a completely altered life now and continues to go to rehabilitation,” Levy said.

Munize filed a lawsuit for pain and suffering against Espinal and Maven Limo Inc., Espinal’s employer and owner of the Crown Vic.

After the three-day trial, a jury concluded that Munize should receive $2.5 million for the damages since the accident, and another $8 million for the next 20 years, according to court documents.

Levy said tears filled his client’s eyes when she learned of the verdict.

Attempts to reach Maven Limo Inc. for comment were unf l