Bryant Heyward from South Carolina has been awarded $750,000 as he was left paralyzed after cops mistook him for an intruder and shot him.
Heyward was shot in the neck after he contacted 911 to report a home invasion.
In his original lawsuit, he had asked for $25 million but eventually settled for $750,000.
His attorney, Justin Bamberg, said to ABC News: “This case was very complicated. Bryant was a completely innocent guy and everything that could have went wrong did go wrong.
“With no footage of the shooting, certain factual disputes created a proverbial he-said, he-said situation. However, nothing changes the fact that Bryant was an innocent homeowner shot in a tragic turn of events and his life will never be the same because of it.”
He added: “His life changed forever, but he’s one of the fortunate ones who survived one of these bad encounters with law enforcement.”
Authorities also said that he was armed when police officers arrived at the scene. But when the cops came, the intruders had already escaped.
Deputy Keith Tyner and his partner arrive at the scene. Tyner saw a door opened ‘and a black male appeared and pointed a handgun’ at him, according to the report.
There is no footage of the incident but in audio, Deputy Tyner can be heard asking Heyward to show his hands. The officer then fired twice, rendering the house owner a quadriplegic for life.
After the bullet penetrated his skin, Heyward screamed: “Wrong guy, sir. This is my house.”
Heyward is unable to bathe or feed himself after the shooting left him paralyzed from the neck down. He has also developed diabetes and bedsores.
“I’ve had a few cases in my career that emotionally put me through the wringer and this is one of them,” Bamberg said. “It hurts to have a young man who is in his late 20s tell you they would rather be dead because he can’t move anything below his neck.”
He added: “Over time, his spirit revitalized and his spirit was rebuilt. Now he says, ‘I’m a survivor, I can beat this.’ He learned how to use this chair and he realized that he’s blessed because he still gets to talk to his loved ones and visit his friends.”
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Replaced!