The Atlanta Police Department and an officer are ordered to pay $100 million to a man who was left paralyzed after the officer electrocuted him with a
taser
and caused him to fall, breaking his neck.
The events occurred on July 10, 2018, when Jerry Blasingame, 65 years old at the time, was asking a driver for money and was approached by officer Jon Grubbs, who asked him to stop, according to The Washington Post. .
"Grubbs gets out of the car and starts chasing my client -- a 65-year-old man -- and for what?
For potentially asking people for money?"
Blasingame's attorney, Ven Johnson, said.
The man made for a railing near the road and the police gave chase.
According to the attorney, the officer fired an electric shock at him, causing him to fall to the asphalt and fracture his neck.
Jerry Blasingame before and after the incident.NBC Affiliate in Atlanta
"Due to the shock and subsequent fall, Mr. Blasingame was rendered unconscious and bleeding profusely from the head," the lawsuit states.
The impact caused
the man a spinal cord injury that has prevented him from using all four limbs.
Police body cameras show Blasingame unconscious and motionless.
[They investigate the death of a Guatemalan immigrant found dead in a dangerous area of Oakland]
Jurors found that there was excessive use of force in this case and that the Atlanta Police Department should pay $60 million and Grubbs should pay $40 million.
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As Blasingame's attorney told The Atlanta Journal Constitution, his client, now 69, has $14 million in medical debt and will have to spend the rest of his life in a residential facility where he requires 24-hour care.
It is estimated that the cost of caring for her in the future will be one million dollars a year.
For her part, Staci J. Miller, one of the attorneys representing Atlanta and Grubbs, assured The Washington Post that Blasingame's injuries were tragic, but that neither city policies nor the training of the Atlanta Police Department they were guilty.
Upon learning of the jurors' decision, the city filed a motion for a judge-directed verdict, which could change the decision on the amount Blasingame should receive.
