A federal jury in Atlanta, Georgia, awarded $100 million to a beggar who fell and had his neck broken after a police officer stunned him with a stun gun during a foot pursuit in June 2018.
Jerry Blassingim's attorney, Finn Johnson, said his client "now needs around-the-clock care that costs $1 million a year, and now owes hospitals $14 million."
The jury concluded that Officer John Grubbs used force against Blassingim (who was 65 at the time of the incident), which left him paralyzed from the bottom of the neck.
The jurors concluded that the Atlanta Police Department should pay 60 million and Grubbs should pay 40 million, WXIA-TV and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The city of Atlanta has applied for a "guided judgment" whereby a judge may modify the aforementioned jury's judgment.
Judge Steve Jones has not yet decided on that request, online court records indicate, but he ruled before deliberations began that jurors might reasonably find that Grubbs used excessive force against the elderly beggar.
Jones wrote - last Friday - that the details of the incident "will allow the jury to discover that Mr. Blassingim did not commit a serious crime before he was electrocuted, that Officer Grubbs was not afraid for his safety, and that there were not very urgent circumstances to allow Grubbs to use force."
Blassingim's trustee Keith Edwards sued the city of Atlanta and Officer John Grubbs over the cost of past and future medical bills.
Blassingim's attorney Finn Johnson and civil rights attorney Craig Jones said Grubbs violated city policy by using a stun gun on an elderly man who was on the run.
Edward's lawsuit stated that Blassingim was on the street begging for money from people when Grubbs and another officer arrived and saw him talking to a driver.