Jury Awards $24 Million to Boy Paralyzed by LAPD Shooting

Believed to be largest sanction against the police

A jury Friday handed down a $24-million verdict against the Los Angeles Police Department for the shooting of a teenage boy who was playing with a replica gun. His injury left him paralyzed.

The award is believed to be the largest sanction ever against the LAPD for a single event and perhaps the largest of any kind against the department. It comes as the LAPD is trying to stem the number of costly lawsuits brought against it.

The case centered on a December 2010 encounter, in which Officer Victor Abarca and his partner were on patrol in the city's Glassell Park neighborhood shortly before 8 p.m., according to police records.