NEW YORK - New York City has agreed to pay $1.25 million to a Long Island woman who was injured after she drove into a deep pothole in Brooklyn.

Loc Thi Protzmann said she needed surgery for neck and back injuries after a tire on her car dropped into a 4-foot-deep hole on Atlantic Avenue in 2002. The street had been damaged by a ruptured sewer pipe.

A spokeswoman for the city's law department said the hefty settlement was in the city's “best interest.”