Brooklyn, NY - December 29th, 2014 - It is with great sadness that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announces that MTA Bridges and Tunnels Officer Thomas Choi has succumbed to injuries suffered in an Oct. 20, 2013 collision at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
Officer Choi is the first Bridge and Tunnel Officer to die in the line of duty in the 81-year history of MTA Bridges and Tunnels, which is formally known as the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority.
Officer Choi, 62, was struck and critically injured by a vehicle as he was reopening the Brooklyn-bound lower level roadway on the morning of Oct. 20, 2013. He was initially treated at Staten Island University Hospital and later transferred for long-term care to Seaview Rehabilitation Center. Officer Choi was recently transferred back to Staten Island University Hospital where he passed away this morning. He never regained consciousness.
“Officer Choi dedicated himself to serving and protecting everyone who travels the bridges and tunnels that unite New York, and all of us at the MTA join in mourning him,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast. “We send our deepest condolences to his family.”
“The entire MTA Bridges and Tunnels family is deeply saddened by the loss of Officer Choi,” said MTA Bridges and Tunnels President James Ferrara. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and all of his colleagues who have worked with him. He was genuinely liked by all who knew him.”
Officer Choi was removing barrels from a closed roadway when he was struck. The driver of the car, a 26-year-old Bayonne, N.J., woman, remained at the scene. The New York City Police Department Collision Investigation Squad subsequently determined there was no criminality involved and the driver was not charged.
Officer Choi joined MTA Bridges and Tunnels Jan. 27, 2003, and resided in Staten Island. He is survived by two grown children, a daughter, Tiffany, and a son, Timothy.