King County has agreed to pay $3 million to a transplant nurse who was left with severe brain damage in a 2002 car crash that happened because a county dump truck and loader created a traffic hazard, her Seattle attorney said.

Francis Rader was headed south on Sahalee Way Northeast almost five years ago when another driver coming out of a neighborhood slammed into the side of her car, launching her vehicle into a tree.

The county equipment parked along the road had blocked the vision of the other driver, who has agreed to pay Rader $2 million, according to Rader's attorney, Mike Nelson.

Nelson said a Sammamish police officer had already notified the county Department of Transportation that the equipment was posing a danger and ordered the use of a flagger.

"For whatever reason, the county ignored the directive given by the Sammamish police, a decision that resulted in horrible injuries to Frances, and lasting damage to her and her family," Nelson said in a statement.

County workers, instead of calling for help, simply got their equipment and themselves out of there, he said.

Transportation officials familiar with the case and the lawyer who handled it could not be reached late Thursday.

Rader, a 41-year-old mother of four, suffered a major head injury and broke her back in two places. She has had many operations and hasn't been able to go back to her job at the University of Washington Medical Center.

Her lawsuit had been set to go to trial in February in King County Superior Court.

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