A Queens jury yesterday slammed the MTA with a $2.7 million verdict in the case of a woman who died after being knocked off a crowded subway platform by another straphanger.
It took the jury less than two hours to decide on the award Thursday after finding the MTA liable for the death of Maria Navarro for causing the overcrowding by removing platform conductors too early during the morning rush hours.
Navarro, a 63-year-old retiree who walked with a cane, was jarred off the E-train platform at Roosevelt Avenue on May 22, 2006, smashing the back of her head on one of the subway rails.
"Her first thought had to be, 'I'm going to be run over by a train and my body dismembered,' " said lawyer Richard Winograd, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Navarro's daughter, Patricia Garcia. "Then, 'Are the rats going to eat me?'
"That suffering must have been so horrifying, it's incomprehensible."
