A homeless man who was paralyzed from the neck down after being tasered by a police officer will receive $110 million dollars in Atlanta.
A federal jury in Atlanta found that officer Jon Grubbs used excessive force against Jerry Blasingame, after chasing him down and subduing him with the stun gun before he broke his neck, national media reported this week.
The day of the events, 10 July 2018, Blasingame, who was 65 years old at the time, was asking drivers for money.
Jurors decided that the Atlanta Police Department should pay the citizen $60 million and Grubbs $14 million. Bills for medical services to the patient exceed $14 million.
However, the City filed a motion for a verdict directed that could amend the jury’s decision.
Judge Steve Jones has not ruled on that request. Jones determined, before deliberations began, that the panel members could reasonably believe that Grubbs used excessive force and that they could consider the City’s argument.
“The record will allow the jury to find that Mr. Blasingame was not committing any serious crime before he was stunned/ that Officer Grubbs did not fear for his safety/ and that the compelling circumstances were not severe enough to allow Grubb to use force,” Jones wrote Friday.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that plaintiff’s attorneys Ven Johnson and Craig Jones argued that Grubbs violated department policy by using a stun gun on a fleeing elderly man.
According to the lawsuit cited by the aforementioned media, Blasingame was on the street asking strangers for money when Grubbs and another officer saw him talking to a driver.
Grubbs got out of the patrol car and he told Blasingame to stop, but he moved off the street to a guardrail, and the officer ran toward him.
“Grubbs got out of the car and started chasing my client, a 65 year old man. And for what? For potentially asking people for money,” he added.
The attorney also argued that the City did not conduct an exhaustive investigation of the officer’s behavior and allowed him to return to work full time six months after the incident. and before the investigation was completed.
Staci J. Miller, one of the attorneys representing Atlanta and Grubbs, argued that Blasingame’s injuries were tragic, but that the City’s training of police officers and department politics are not to blame.