By Kim Minugh, Sacramento Bee

For the first 18 years Thomas Avery was a quadriplegic, he did his best to live a normal life.

He returned to college and held jobs. He volunteered with at-risk kids. He relied on help for some basic tasks, like eating and dressing, but maintained a significant amount of self-sufficiency in and out of his home.

That was before he rolled backward off a platform lifting him into a Roseville paratransit bus two and a half years ago, dropping him six feet onto his head and causing severe brain injury.

Now, the 40-year-old rarely leaves his Del Paso Heights home. When he does, he often forgets where he’s going and why. His father sometimes follows to make sure his son doesn’t get lost.

“This accident totally took away a lot of my independence,” Avery said.

Twelve Placer County jurors apparently sympathized, awarding $6.4 million in economic and non-economic damages to Avery last week. The jury found that the city of Roseville and Fairfield-based MV Transportation, which operates the city’s paratransit system under contract, were liable for a faulty lift that caused the fall.

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