Federal jury awards $100M in stun gun fall paralysis lawsuit

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal jury in Atlanta has awarded $100 million to a panhandler who fell and broke his neck after a police officer shocked him with a stun gun during a chase. News agencies report that the verdict was handed up Friday. Jurors found that Officer Jon Grubbs used unreasonable force against Jerry Blasingame, who was 65 years old and had been asking drivers for money in July 2018. He was paralyzed from the neck down. Attorney Ven Johnson told jurors that Blasingame’s medical bills total $14 million and his care costs $1 million a year. The city’s lawyer has asked the judge to find that it and Grubbs are not liable. The judge has not yet ruled on that.