Photo: CBS 12
A man who won a multi-million dollar lawsuit after being paralyzed in a shooting by a Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputy has died.
A family member says 28-year old Dontrell Stephens passed away August 29th at a Port St. Lucie hospital, but his cause of death was not released.
He became paralyzed from the waist down after getting shot by Deputy Adams Lin in 2013.
The deputy was pursuing Stephens for cutting across traffic on his bike and told jurors that he though the man reached for a gun before he fired his service weapon. Stephens claimed he had his hands up at the time of the shooting. What was in his hand was a cellphone.
Stephens sued and initially won $22 million when a federal jury ruled the use of force was unjustified.
Any award over $200,000 requires a special claims legislation in Tallahassee.
Last year, Gov. DeSantis signed into a law a $6 million claims bill for Stephens.