A Connecticut man filed a lawsuit against New York City and Citi Bike for $15 million on Thursday following a crash that left him without sense of smell or taste, the New York Daily News reported.
Robert Corwin, 73, claims last year's accident has changed his entire life.
"This has turned my life inside out," Corwin said. "I do nothing now but go from one (medical) specialist to another trying to find some relief."
Corwin said he was riding one of the Citi Bikes in October when his front wheel struck the bike dock near E. 56th Street and Madison Avenue, flipping over and causing the incident.
Guy Smiley, a lawyer for Corwin, said his client suffers from traumatic nerve palsy, leaving him unable to taste or smell. According to his doctors, the damage is permanent.
"Everything tastes like cardboard," Smiley said. "It's terrible. He's lost the pleasure of tasting food and of literally smelling the roses."
Corwin, who is the first rider to file a personal injury lawsuit against Citi Bike, believes the dock was negligently placed. Though the barrier is six feet wide and six inches high, he said it blended in with the road.
"There were no cones or colored warnings to alert a bicyclist of its existence," Smiley added. "It constituted a trap for the unwary."
Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the city Law Department, would not offer comment on the pending suit.
