An emergency medical technician injured by a driver whose SUV struck an ambulance traveling to an emergency scene has been awarded $11.5 million.

The verdict was delivered by a jury that spent just six minutes deliberating liability and, in a separate trial, just 12 minutes deliberating damages, according to the EMT's lawyer.

The damages award—which will be reduced to a $1.25 million payout pursuant to a pretrial high-low agreement between the parties—was based largely on severe psychological and emotional injuries suffered in the years after plaintiff Brandon Dorsa's ambulance was struck, then fishtailed, then flipped over near the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, according to his attorney, Jay Flatow.

Dorsa, an EMT with the New York City Fire Department, was riding in the front passenger seat of the ambulance on July 3, 2015, as it traveled to an emergency scene, its lights flashing and sirens blaring, Flatow told the Law Journal in an interview.

That's when defendant Terrence Moore's black-colored SUV, which was descending from the bridge and heading toward a traffic light that had just turned green, rammed into the back passenger side of the ambulance.

Although Dorsa had on his seat belt, the violent impact forced his body to bounce around inside the cabin, and a vertebra in his back broke. The broken vertebra led to extensive pain management injections and opioid medication for back and neck injuries and, in turn, that set off a chain of alcoholism, drug use, suicide tries and a disintegration of Dorsa's life during his early and mid-30s, his counsel argued.

Dorsa's trial lawyer in Brooklyn Supreme Court was solo practitioner Peter Thomas.

Flatow, who runs the one-man personal injury law firm of Lurie & Flatow in Brooklyn (former partner Sanford Lurie passed away in 2005), hired Thomas as of counsel to Lurie & Flatow for the purpose of handling trial.

Defense counsel at trial for Moore—James Flanagan of Fishkin & Associates—could not be immediately reached for comment.

According to Flatow, the May 14 liability trial featured testimony and evidence that showed that the ambulance was proceeding with caution into a fairly busy intersection at Tillary and Adams streets, when Moore's SUV, traveling fast, never yielded to the emergency-responding ambulance.

Flatow said that at trial, an eyewitness who was also interviewed by a police officer at the scene gave key testimony that helped Dorsa.

“He had no stake in the game, and he actually was at the same intersection [at the time of the accident], going in the opposite direction,” said Flatow, “and so the light turned green for him, and he heard sirens, and he saw the lights on the ambulance and he did not proceed and he observed the other vehicle [Moore's] not slow down whatsoever,” the lawyer said.

According to Flatow, Moore testified at trial that he did not hear any sirens as he approached the intersection, and that he did not see the ambulance's flashing lights until his SUV was essentially on top of the ambulance.

The six-person jury deliberated for some six minutes on May 14 in the one-day trial, said Flatow, who called it a “slam dunk” liability case.

A separate damages trial took place next, lasting for about three days before the jury spent only 12 minutes deliberating on May 20, Flatow said.

The jury walked back into the courtroom, seemingly in a flash, announcing awards to Dorsa of $1.5 million for past pain and suffering and $10 million for future pain and suffering, said Flatow, who spoke with Thomas about the courtroom verdicts.

During the damages trial—parts of which Flatow attended—Dorsa's detailed testimony about how his life had swirled from promise into despair captured the jury, Flatow said.

When his ambulance was hit, Dorsa was in his early 30s, was engaged to be married and loved his job as an EMT. Today, he has lost his fiancée and hopes to be able to do only desk work for the fire department if his mental and physical health will allow it, Flatow said.

Moreover, Dorsa has struggled for years with pain, PTSD, depression and alcoholism, and he testified that he tried suicide seven times.

“I just hope—I hope he's OK. I'm concerned about him,” Flatow said.

As Justice Mark Partnow presided, Dorsa “got on the stand,” said Flatow, “and it was kind of cathartic for him. You just knew how much pain he was in and how he suffered from this. It was very dramatic.”

There was evidence of Dorsa receiving 14 pain management injections and being put on opioids. He never had surgery, though.

And he spoke about deep depression and PTSD, about seeing different psychiatrists and psychologists, and about going in and out of rehabilitation centers.

He also explained, Flatow said, that he was afraid of becoming addicted to the pain medications, and so he turned to alcohol.

In the end, as the $11.5 million damages award was read out to the courtroom, Dorsa reportedly looked calm, said Flatow, who noted that “as part of his depression, there normally isn't a lot of emotion” on his face.

Still, “right now, he seems to be in a good place, and I'm hoping this verdict will help him,” the lawyer said. “This is a really good guy.”