The Board of Estimates on May 21 approved a $75,000 settlement in Linda Evans v. Baltimore City arising from an August 2023 car crash at Park Avenue and Saratoga Street.

The law department said the plaintiff had the green light when a Recreation and Parks employee entered the intersection on a red light and collided with her vehicle. The plaintiff was treated at a hospital and later received months of neurological treatment, physical therapy and diagnoses that included spinal strains, knee contusions and a concussion, Deputy Solicitor Steven Salisbury told the board.

Salisbury said the city’s liability was “pretty clear,” noting there was video of the accident and that the driver “acknowledged being distracted while entering the intersection.” He added that the city’s Bureau of Risk Management and Recreation and Parks do not appear to have disciplined the employee for the crash, but that “new processes…implemented since this accident” would flag at-fault drivers for follow-up training or discipline.

Comptroller Bill Henry asked whether Risk Management would apply the new discipline processes retroactively to incidents that took place before the policy’s adoption; Salisbury said he would carry the question back to Risk Management and follow up with the Comptroller’s office.

The settlement recommendation came from the law department; the board voted to approve it during the nonroutine portion of the agenda. No member recorded a dissent at the vote.

The board did not adopt any new city policy on employee discipline at the meeting, and Risk Management’s treatment of past cases was left for follow-up inquiries, the law department said.