A woman who was nearly killed when two boys tossed a shopping cart from an overpass at a Manhattan mall has just been awarded $45 million. A jury this week awarded 53-year-old Marion Hedges the money seven years after the incident at the East River Plaza Mall left her with severe brain injuries, reports the New York Times. She has partially recovered, though she continues to suffer the effects today, as evidenced by this line in the New York Post: Hedges "shook with emotion when the verdict was announced—but she didn’t shed a tear because a side effect of her brain damage is the inability to cry." Hedges had been returning to her car in a parking kiosk after shopping for Halloween candy when two boys, ages 12 and 13, dumped a shopping cart from a walkway more than 70 feet above her. The cart struck her in the head.
The boys were caught and served time in a juvenile detention facility, but the jury found them only 10% responsible. Jurors deemed the mall 65% responsible and a security company the remaining 25%. Hedges is a philanthropist, and she promises to use part of the money to help kids in the neighborhood. “We want to help Harlem kids have a chance to do something besides throw a shopping cart on a boring Sunday afternoon,” she said. The judge in the case lauded her attitude when the trial was over. “I think you have shown us all how to live in the face of adversity,” said Justice Carmen St. George, per the Post. Specifically, the jury awarded Hedges $40.7 million, her husband $2.5 million, and her son (who was shopping with her that day) $2 million.
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