ATLANTA — Atlanta officials are backing off a settlement reached with a pedestrian hurt during a police pursuit.
The injured woman told Channel 2's Aaron Diamant on Wednesday that she thought the deal was done. All she remembers about the crash is stepping off a curb and waking up in the hospital.
"I'm injured for the rest of my life," Wendy Lockett told Diamant.
Her face, arms and legs are still covered in scars.
"I'm still suffering from severe headaches, neck pain. I can't sleep at night," Lockett said.
When Lockett stepped off a curb into Sylvan Road in July 2008, she was struck by a suspected stolen car fleeing from Atlanta police.
"As I proceeded to cross, the next thing I knew, two days later, I was in intensive care at Grady Hospital," Lockett said.
She and her lawyer said a reckless high-speed pursuit caused her injuries and later led to a crash blocks away that killed the driver. With medical bills piling up and her inability to work, Lockett sued the city.
After a nearly four-year court battle and hours of mediation, the city's law department offered Lockett a $475,000 settlement.
"I thought that this was finally over that I could go ahead a live my life, that I can take care of my children," Lockett said.
But when it came time for the Atlanta City Council to adopt the resolution giving Lockett's settlement the green light last month, the board instead voted to file it, effectively killing the deal.
That's when city attorneys came back to Lockett with another deal for $100,000 less.
"If I were to agree to that, my lawyer is getting 45 percent. I get the remainder. The remainder of those is going out to pay bills and things of that nature," she said.
Lockett said there would be little left, and now she is ready to go back to court.
Officials wouldn't tell Diamant why the deal was killed but an Atlanta attorney emailed him saying the city is still open to negotiating.
WSBTV
