NY county to pay $7.5m for student’s death

RIVERHEAD, NY — New York county officials have agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle lawsuits involving the accidental death of a 21-year-old Indian American college student during Superstorm Sandy.

Stony Brook University student Vishwaja Muppa, of Edison, New Jersey, was killed and three other women were injured in the 2012 storm.

Officials say a Suffolk County police car crashed into their vehicle at a darkened intersection in the hamlet of Port Jefferson Station on Long Island. The storm had knocked out the traffic light and the officer didn’t have his emergency lights on.

The three women suffered severe and permanent injuries, and will also receive part of the settlement.

The county legislature will decide a proposal to borrow $3 million for the settlement.

Muppa was studying to become a physician. A biology major, she was described by friends as a hardworking scholar, who also worked for two years as a student assistant in the office of university president Dr. Samuel L. Stanley.