A New Jersey man has received a historic settlement in a police brutality case that became the subject of a Kane In Your Corner investigation. Camden County has agreed to pay $10 million to Xavier Ingram, who was left paralyzed during an arrest.

Ingram’s neck was broken when he was arrested by Camden County police outside a liquor store in 2014. He sued, alleging he was hurt when officers knelt and stepped on his neck. For years, county officials denied the charge, but in March, when the lawsuit went to trial, an officer admitted under cross-examination he had, in fact, knelt on Ingram’s neck. The case ended in a mistrial when the jury deadlocked.

Ingram’s attorneys say this appears to be the largest brutality settlement in New Jersey history, and among the largest ever in the nation. They say their client will need every penny.

“This is not someone that is going to be able to take care of them themselves,” says Ingram’s attorney Cory Rothbort. “Yes, there may be family members that may be able to assist them on a somewhat frequent basis, but not the type of round-the-clock 24/7 care that he needs.”

Dan Keashen, spokesperson for Camden County, says the county does not believe settling the lawsuit was the right decision. “In complete disagreement, and based on the insurance carrier making a business decision and forcing the hand of Camden County, we will be settling the case with Mr. Ingram.”

The Camden County Police Department was formed in 2013, after the City of Camden disbanded its police force. The new department claimed that in its first five years it cut brutality complaints from 65 to three. But Kane In Your Corner’s investigation raised questions about those numbers.

Senior Investigative Reporter Walt Kane obtained video of the violent 2018 arrest of Edward Minguela by four Camden County officers. Minguela filed four brutality complaints, one against each officer. But the department claimed there were just three complaints filed that entire year. The county later said it had counted Minguela’s four complaints as a single complaint, something the New Jersey Attorney General's Office’s internal affairs guidelines specifically forbade them from doing.

Kane In Your Corner will have much more on this story, including an interview with Ingram, on Tuesday. Do you have a story that needs to be investigated? To get Kane in Your Corner, click HERE.