Camden County To Pay $10 Million To New Jersey Man Paralyzed From Police Encounter
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) -- Attorneys say it's the largest police brutality settlement in New Jersey history. Camden County police is paying $10 million to Xavier Ingram after his attorneys say officers broke his neck while arresting him in 2014.
The man running seen running in 2014 surveillance video is Ingram. He's chased by Camden County police officers trying to arrest him. At the time, they claimed the then 20-year-old Ingram had drugs and a stolen gun.
Ingram trips and falls in the middle of South 7th Street in Camden. What he says happens next changed his life.
"We go through this every day. It's just that it happened to me and it was on camera," Ingram said.
Ingram's attorney, Beth Baldinger, says after her client fell, one officer pressed his knee on Ingram's neck.
"This was George Floyd's circumstances years before George Floyd," Baldinger said.
She says another officer came up to Ingram.
"Put his foot on Mr. Ingram's neck and stepped down. Mr. Ingram heard his neck crack and he passed out from pain," Baldinger said.
Baldinger says the Camden County officers' actions paralyzed Ingram from the neck down.
The county agreed to settle after eight years of litigation led to a trial ending in a mistrial because of a hung jury.
In a written statement, Camden County says they don't agree with the decision and feel they did nothing wrong. They claimed their insurance company made a business decision that forced the county's hand.
The county dropped all criminal charges against Ingram after Baldinger says they introduced evidence at trial suggesting the drugs were planted.
Despite Camden County's insistence its officers did nothing wrong, Ingram feels vindicated by the settlement and plans to use the money to move back home.
"You gotta take advantage of your time because anything could happen in the blink of an eye," he said.
