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Sixty-Eight year old Trudy Roy prepares to stand with the helpof the parallel bars and physical therapist, Marquitta Callender, part of her recovery processes at St. Vincent Hospital in Birmingham, Ala., Thursday, Aug. 10, 2006. Roy was hit by a Homewood Police motorcycle last May and because of a state law she cannot sue Homewood for the $100,000 doctor's bill. (The Birmingham News/ Courtney Hergesheimer)

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A Jefferson County jury last week awarded a $4 million verdict against the City of Homewood and one of its police officers in a case nearly nine years in the making.

The jury, on May 21, ruled in favor of Eldetraud "Trudy" Roy's estate, a Homewood resident who in May 2006 was run over by Homewood police officer Jerry Wayne Suttles. Trudy died in January 2013 due to unrelated causes, but her son, Michael Roy, continued the legal fight in her memory.

Though it took nearly a decade to get the case in front of a jury, the trial and verdict came and ended in just over a week. The jury assessed compensatory damages in the amount of $2 million and punitive damages against Officer Suttles also in the amount of $2 million.

Trudy suffered "horrific" injuries, as they were described by one of her lawyers, Rip Andrews, back on May 19, 2006.

According to court documents, Trudy was walking home from the store that morning when she approached Central Avenue and stopped. There, she noticed two policemen in the median helping to control traffic during a Special Olympics fund-raising event known as the "Torch Run."

It was then, according to the court documents, that one of the officers advised Trudy that she could safely cross Central Avenue and continue walking home. After Trudy had taken several steps across Central Avenue, she was "violently struck" by a Harley Davidson motorcycle operated Suttles.

Suttles, as described in a previous Birmingham News article, left a 40-foot skid mark and bucked himself from the bike. Trudy's 118-pound body, meanwhile, sailed 10 feet in the air and 20 feet across the road.

Contorted and bleeding, she lay moaning, repeating, ''He told me I could go, he told me I could go.''

According to Andrews, Trudy's injuries -- suffered when she was 68 years old -- included a broken tibia and fibula, left and right femur, left and right hip, ribs 5-7 on her left side, a skull fracture above her left eye and a broken left arm. Her left arm, he said, never regained function. She never was completely without the use of a wheelchair and lost a lot of her independence, said Andrews.

In 2007, Roy sued Suttles in both his official and individual capacities, as well as the City of Homewood.

"I don't know that I've ever had a case that took so long to get to trial," said Alan B. Lasseter, also of counsel for the plaintiff.

Lasseter said his team did everything they could to try and settle with the insurance company before resorting to trial. But despite the fact the city already owned a $2 million policy, that never happened.

"Still, our goal is to ensure our client is paid what she is owed and at the same time take care of the police officer," said Lasseter, "even if he's telling story that doesn't make sense."

Andrews mirrored the sentiment.

"We did everything we could to solve the case within the limits of the insurance policy" said Andrews. "We are not out to ruin this guy's life. He did one bad thing on one day."

The case, said Andrews, made it to the Supreme Court of Alabama a total of three times over the course of the last nine years as questions arose about Roy's rights in suing the City of Homewood and whether she could sue Suttles as an individual.

In Alabama, lawsuit awards against municipalities are capped at $100,000--what Andrews said would be less than half of Trudy's $400,000 in medical costs. Police officers are also protected, said Andrews.

"While there is no money cap for police officers," he said, "there is what is called 'immunity.' If you are on the job in uniform, you cannot be sued at all unless you break the law."

The court ruled that Suttles is not automatically protected from personal liability in this particular claim and Suttles's attorneys did not prove that the $100,000 cap should apply to him individually since he was acting in an official capacity. The City of Homewood, however, would only be liable up to $100,000 financed via insurance despite any future ruling.

In order to also sue Andrews in his official capacity, Andrews and Lasseter had to try the case in two ways. First, they presented evidence to indicate that Suttles had in fact broken the law asked the jury these series of questions:

Was there an emergency?

Was he speeding?

Did he have his siren on?

Did he use due regard for safety of others?

The jury answers--no, yes, no, no--allowed Roy's attorneys to continue with the trial.

Andrews stressed the reality that should the case be paid out as ordered, no tax payer dollars will be used to satisfy the judgement. Both what the city pays on its behalf and on behalf of Suttles, its employee, will be covered by insurance.

"This trail should not be seen as an attack on police officers or municipal employees," said Andrews. "Ms. Roy worked for city of Homewood at the library for more than 20 years. She loved the city of Homewood, but she needed her medical bills paid for. Her son, Mike, is a building inspector for the city of Vestavia. Ms. Roy's other son is a deputy-sheriff. Their mom was done wrong and they wanted to fix it."

The city of Homewood will only be responsible for $100,000 of the $4 million ruled upon, said Andrews. Hopefully, he said, Homewood's employee insurance will cover the remainder.

Counsel for the City of Homewood, Terry Sides, provided the following statement to AL.com about the verdict.

"The City of Homewood has the utmost respect for both the jury system and the service which the jury gave in this particular case. This was an unfortunate accident, but we strongly disagree with the jury's decision and will be appealing it to the Supreme Court of Alabama."

Tim Donahue, the attorney who represented Jerry Suttles, provided AL.com with the following comment via email.

"What plaintiffs attorneys, Mr. Lasseter and Mr. Andrews told you and what they told the jury are inconsistent. That is they told the jury to punish Officer Suttles and punish him with a punitive damage verdict."

Updated at 1:06 p.m. on June 1 to include the comment from Tim Donahue.