A $100 million award was awarded Friday to an Atlanta doctor who was paralyzed in a fall and broke his neck after being shocked by a police officer’s stun gun during a foot chase four years ago. A federal jury has awarded Jerry Blazingame, now 69, $100 million in a civil lawsuit stemming from injuries sustained on July 10, 2018, while being chased by Atlanta police officer John Grubbs. Blasingame, who was unarmed, was asking people for money and talking to a driver near Windsor Street when Grubbs and another officer were patrolling downtown, according to the filing. Grubbs got out of the patrol car and allegedly told Blasingame to stop, but the man ran off the road and into a guard rail, so the officer gave chase on foot and deployed his Taser. GEORGIA GAZETTE KEMB TO TESTIFY AT TRUMP QUESTION – BUT NOT AFTER ELECTION AGAINST STACY ABRAMS Atlanta police vehicle on standby. (Getty Images) The shock caused Blasingame to fall and seriously injure himself. He was unconscious and bleeding from the head while the officer called for medical help. Blasingame was taken to a trauma center at Grady Memorial Hospital. Since then, he has been living in a 24-hour facility that has become a “prisoner in his body” with a severe spinal cord injury and is unable to use all four of his limbs, according to Blasingame’s attorney, Ven Johnson. “Grubbs gets out of the car and starts chasing my client—a 65-year-old man—and for what? For possible money-seeking?” Johnson said during closing arguments, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You beat the police, you get what you sow. That’s what some people think. But it’s not like that,” he added. “Jerry Blazingame matters. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in 2019 on behalf of Blasingame’s conservator, Keith Edwards, sued the city of Atlanta and Grubbs himself, claiming the man has racked up $14 million in medical bills and will rack up an additional 1 million dollars annually in the future. to withstand his 24-hour care.
“The record would have permitted the jury to find that Mr. Blasingame had not committed a serious crime prior to trying him/that Officer Grubbs did not fear for his safety/and that the exigent circumstances were not otherwise so severe as to permit Mr. Officer Grubbs. use of force,” Judge Steve Jones said in his ruling Friday, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Following the incident, Grubbs was placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation, but was reportedly allowed to return to his full duties six months later. Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @danimwallace.