Florida county pays $4 million for girl with severed spine

MIAMI (AP) — Miami-Dade County has agreed to pay a record $4 million for the care of a girl whose spinal cord was severed in a crash with a police cruiser. The officer was speeding into an intersection with non-working stoplights as a hurricane approached nearly six years ago. The additional $3.8 million settlement is the largest claim the county has ever paid, and it far exceeds an initial $200,000 the county already paid for Yeilyn Quiroz Otero. But it’s far short of what she’ll need. After past medical and legal bills are paid, she’ll get about $1.5 million. Her lawyers said her lifetime medical needs alone will cost $11 million.