Xavier Ingram: paralyzed in a Camden arrest
A 2014 arrest in Camden, New Jersey, left Xavier Ingram quadriplegic. His case went to a federal jury, which could not agree. In May 2022, before a retrial, Camden County settled for $10 million while denying any wrongdoing.
A public record, not a client of this firm. Everything on this page comes from the court file, the government announcement or the reporting cited at the end. Usher Law Group did not represent anyone in this matter, we publish no results of our own, and nothing here predicts the outcome of any other case.
Xavier Ingram was arrested in Camden, New Jersey, in 2014. When it was over he could not move his arms or legs. The public record uses one word for what the arrest left him with: quadriplegic.
He sued Camden County in federal court. The case did what very few police cases do: it went all the way to a jury. The jury heard the evidence and could not agree on a verdict. A hung jury is not a loss and it is not a win. It means the case would be tried again from the beginning.
Before that second trial, in May 2022, the county settled for $10 million. It denied wrongdoing, which is the usual language of a settlement and means only that no court ever decided the question. Eight years passed between the arrest and the payment.
The length of that road is part of the story. A serious force case in federal court is a years-long matter: discovery, expert medical evidence, motions on qualified immunity, and then, if it survives all of that, a trial in front of ordinary people who have to decide whether what they saw on the video was reasonable.
What the law calls it
The claim is excessive force under the Fourth Amendment, judged by objective reasonableness from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene: the severity of any crime, whether the person posed an immediate threat, and whether the person was actively resisting or fleeing (Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989)). The Supreme Court has rejected any rule that holding a person prone is automatically reasonable when the person resists; the question is fact-specific (Lombardo v. City of St. Louis, 594 U.S. 464 (2021)). In the Third Circuit, which covers New Jersey, refusing to ease painfully tight handcuffs can itself be excessive force, and the officer does not get qualified immunity for it (Kopec v. Tate, 361 F.3d 772 (3d Cir. 2004)).
The county is liable under Section 1983 only for a policy or custom that caused the injury (Monell). New Jersey adds a state claim under its own Civil Rights Act, with attorney's fees, and the ordinary tort claims, which need a Tort Claims Act notice within 90 days.
What it cost
Xavier Ingram
Left quadriplegic after a 2014 arrest. A federal jury could not reach a verdict; the county settled before retrial.
Source: CBS News Philadelphia. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
What it means for you
If you were seriously hurt during an arrest in New Jersey, two things have to happen in the first 90 days: the Tort Claims Act notice to the county or town, and the request for every recording that exists, from body cameras to the cars to nearby businesses. The federal claim under Section 1983 has two years in New Jersey and no notice requirement, but the evidence does not wait. Our New Jersey page explains the notice and the Civil Rights Act, and excessive force explains the Graham standard the jury is instructed on.
A permanent injury changes the arithmetic of a case. The medical evidence becomes the center of it, and a life-care plan is part of the damages. Our New Jersey recovery page explains what can be recovered on the federal and state claims, and how a case works describes the years between a complaint and a jury.
The pages this story points to
Excessive force
The Graham factors, prone restraint, handcuffs, and what the record has to show.
Read →New Jersey
The 90-day Tort Claims Act notice, the Civil Rights Act, and the two-year federal clock.
Read →What New Jersey pays
The federal and state claims side by side, with the public settlements on record.
Read →Sources. CBS News Philadelphia, report on the Camden County settlement with Xavier Ingram (May 2022); Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989); Lombardo v. City of St. Louis, 594 U.S. 464 (2021); Kopec v. Tate, 361 F.3d 772 (3d Cir. 2004).
Common questions
What happens after a hung jury in a civil case?
The case is not over. The judge declares a mistrial and the plaintiff can try it again to a new jury. Many cases settle at that point, as this one did, because both sides have now seen the evidence tested once and can price the risk of a second trial.
Does New Jersey have its own civil rights law?
Yes. The New Jersey Civil Rights Act lets a person sue for violations of state and federal constitutional rights and provides for attorney's fees. State tort claims against a county or town in New Jersey require a notice under the Tort Claims Act within 90 days. Our New Jersey recovery page explains how the two claims fit together.
Tell us what happened.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which claims the facts support, which deadline runs first for the agency involved, what evidence to preserve this week, and whether a pending criminal case changes the timing. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510If a criminal charge is still open, talk to your defense lawyer before you describe the arrest to anyone, including us. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language. Contingency fee, confirmed in writing before we begin.