Chattanooga won a lawsuit Thursday filed 10 years ago by a man who was struck by a suspect’s vehicle during a high-speed chase by a Chattanooga police officer.
John Abrell, 46, testified in a trial last week that he suffers from chronic pain and must take pain medication routinely. After the accident, Abrell spent seven days at Erlanger hospital with a slight concussion, but no surgery. The suit was seeking up to $130,000.
“Hopefully, this will be the end of a very unfortunate and tragic incident that has been in litigation for the past 10 years,” Chattanooga Police Chief Bobby Dodd said.
“I’m glad that after reviewing the evidence and hearing testimony from all involved, the officer was found to be in compliance and his actions reasonable under the circumstances. Although the city and the officer were not found to be at fault n this incident, at the end of the day, there are no winners in a case like this.”
On Aug. 09, 2000, Officer Andrew Hilton pursued a suspected stolen vehicle for about 95 seconds, mainly on Amnicola Highway, records show. The vehicle, a black Honda Accord stolen from Brainerd the previous day, struck a vehicle driven by Abrell at the intersection of Wisdom Street and Amnicola.