Parkland Survivor Anthony Borges Settles Lawsuit With Broward School District
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Anthony Borges, who was severely wounded in the 2018 Parkland school shooting, has reached a settlement in his lawsuit against the Broward County School District. However, his attorney Alex Arreaza said he is not commenting on the amount of the settlement.
The Borges' settlement comes just two days after a separate $25 million settlement was reached with the families of the 17 people who were killed and others who were wounded and traumatized.
The Borges' family decided to pursue their own lawsuit, saying his injuries will require a lifetime of medical treatment that requires a larger payment.
He was shot in the lungs, abdomen and legs. Arreaza said Borges' "physical wounds were healing, but the (post-traumatic stress disorder) is manifesting itself more all the time."
When CBS4 spoke to Arreaza earlier in the week, he explained, "One of the problems that he still has is one of his feet he doesn't have full function in his toes, so they have some more work to do with the ligaments. He's not able to do what he loved to do, [that] triggers the PTSD and creates those problems," said Arreaza.
Fifty-two families are part of the first settlement which was announced on Monday.
It's not known how much each family will receive, but the families of the 14 students and three staff members killed will get the largest shares. Those will be equal.
Meantime, the Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz plead guilty on Wednesday to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
Anthony Borges, who had been shot five times, was in the courtroom to hear the pleas and Cruz's apology to the families.
Borges told reporters after the hearing that he accepted Cruz's apology, but said it wasn't up to him to decide the confessed murderer's fate.
"He made a decision to shoot the school," Borges said. "I am not God to make the decision to kill him or not. That's not my decision. My decision is to be a better person and to change the world for every kid. I don't want this to happen to anybody again. It hurts. It hurts. It really hurts. So, I am just going to keep going. That's it."
