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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
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City to Pay $25K to 8-Year-Old Who Broke Leg Sledding in Staten Island Park

 An 8-year-old who broke his leg sledding in a Staten Island park received $25,000 from the city as part of a legal settlement.
City Pays $25K to Kid Injured Sledding in Park
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CASTLETON CORNERS — The city is planning to pay $25,000 to an 8-year-old boy who broke his leg while sledding down a snowy hill in a Staten Island park, court records show.

The boy was sledding at Clove Lakes Park on Jan. 26, 2014, when he barreled into a bale of hay that had been set up at the foot of a hill to stop kids from sliding onto a nearby roadway.

The boy, whose name is being withheld because of his age, broke his tibia in three places, according to court records. The injuries caused him to miss three months of school, records show.

In March 2014, the boy’s parents, Anna and Craig McGuire, filed a notice of claim — the first step in suing the city — blaming the city's Parks Department for their son’s injuries.

The agency touts the hill in the Castleton Corner park as a great spot to sled in the winter. But the McGuires' lawyer, Michael H. Bush, claimed that the Parks Department flaked on its responsibilities by improperly placing the bale of hay at the bottom of the knoll.

“They created this condition,” Bush told DNAinfo New York. “If the bales weren’t there, he wouldn’t have crashed into it."

The argument apparently worked.

City Comptroller Scott Stringer’s office reached a tentative settlement offer within six months of the accident — before an actual lawsuit was filed. The comptroller can approve settlements before litigation begins.

Bush filed court papers last month in Staten Island Supreme Court asking a judge to approve the $25,000 deal.

The lawyer called the case “out of the ordinary.”

“We’ve been doing this for 50 years. This is only the second time I’ve seen a recovery for a sledding incident,” Bush said.

The boy, who lives in Bulls Head, has healed since the accident.

“[The mother is] grateful that her child has made an excellent recovery and doing well,” he said. “That’s the most important thing to her.”

Stringer's spokesman, Eric Sumberg, said the "settlement was in the best interests of all parties."

The Parks Department did not respond to a request for comment.