A Brooklyn jury awarded $25 million Friday to an ex-con paralyzed when he was shot during a struggle with an NYPD sergeant.
Eugene Sims, 39, and Sgt. Sean O’Brien struggled over a .38-caliber revolver police said Sims was spotted carrying in Bedford-Stuyvesant on April 6, 2009.
O’Brien fired one shot, hitting Sims in the back and paralyzing him below the waist. Sims was charged with weapon possession.
But in 2011, he beat the gun rap after his lawyers argued he was charged to cover up a bad shoot.
On Friday, jurors decided O’Brien used excessive force and awarded Sims — who has also gone by the name James Small — $16.5 million for pain and suffering, $8 million to cover medical expenses, $500,000 for unlawful arrest and $200,000 for 10 days he spent in jail, court papers show.
“We are disappointed with the verdict and considering our options,” city Law Department spokesman Nick Paolucci said in a statement.
