$15M settlement reached in 2016 San Antonio sinkhole death

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The family of a sheriff's deputy who died when her personal vehicle fell into a sinkhole that opened along a San Antonio street will share in a nearly $15 million settlement.

The San Antonio Express-News reports that the board of the San Antonio Water System on Tuesday approved terms of the settlement. A judge must still authorize the agreement.

The family of Dora Linda Nishihara will be compensated along with another motorist whose vehicle also dropped into the hole and a pedestrian who fell in. The second motorist and the pedestrian both survived.

A large sewer line failed and caused sewage to erode the ground underneath the road in December 2016.

A construction company and an engineering firm that both worked to install the sewer line will pay the damages. SAWS had hired them to do the work.