Victoria police will pay Chris Karadaglis of Warnambool $11.75million in a settlement filed in the Victoria Supreme Court earlier this month. Mr Karadaglis had been left paralysed from the neck down after police officers allegedly use excessive force on him in November 2017.
Mr Karadaglis had been alone at home when three Victoria Police officers arrived in response to a noise complaint and, according to court papers obtained by AAP, he had “posed no threat to the police officers or anybody else.”
The documents stated that:”One of more of the officers applied excessive force to the plaintiff who suffered devastating injury to his cervical spine.”
The injury left Mr Karadaglis a paraplegic, paralysed from the neck down.
The documents stated that the force used on Mr Karadaglis was “cowardly and brutal” and “an affront to his dignity … in reckless disregard to have be caused on him.
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According to the court papers, two of the officers allegedly went to the hospital where Mr Karadaglis was being treated and told a nurse that he was “feigning” his injuries.
Mr Karadaglis asked for Victoria Police to pay exemplary damages to show the court’s disapproval of the incident and to serve as a deterrent that drive home the message that in dealing with a non-violent offender, police officers must “avoid foreseeable injury” and that they “must be properly trained, assessed, monitored and trained”.
While the documents did not apply fault or liability on the officers, Victoria Police agreed on 1 October to pay Mr Karadaglis $11.75 million minus any repayment to the National Disability Insurance Agency as well as his legal costs.
A Victoria Police spokesman said that a “settlement with a man who was was injured during an arrest in 2017” had been reached but that the terms were confidential and no further comment was available.
According to “The Guardian” the court ordered on October 1 that the payment be made before the end of the month.
