Iowa to pay $8M settlement to Illinois man hit by snow plow

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa state board has approved an $8 million payment to an Illinois man who was left permanently disabled when he was hit in 2019 by an Iowa Transportation Department snow plow.

On Monday, the three-member Iowa State Appeal Board approved the settlement to Terry Bunting, 64, of Viola, Illinois, the Des Moines Register reported.

Officials have said Bunting was clearing the windshield of his semitrailer in January 2019 after pulling over on U.S. Highway 67 in Le Claire when he was hit by the blade of a passing IDOT plow. Court records say the driver of the plow saw Bunting and moved to retract the plow’s blade, but pulled the wrong lever, leaving it extended.

The impact caused acute kidney and spine injuries and multiple broken bones and left Bunting paralyzed. Bunting has already accumulated more than $1.25 in medical bills, records show.

Experts estimated the cost Bunting’s future medical and other care could exceed $7 million.