Jacob Rodgers was a passenger in a friend’s pickup truck on the evening of Oct. 7, 2015, when the driver of a Gainesville city utility vehicle ran a stop sign and hit the pickup.
Rodgers, then 20, was thrown from the pickup and suffered injuries that left him paralyzed. Now, nearly a decade later, Florida lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis have approved a bill directing the city to pay $10.8 million to Rodgers.
The bill (HB 6521) was one of nine “claim” bills that lawmakers approved this year, directing state and local government agencies to provide compensation for injuries, a death, and a case of wrongful incarceration…