The City of Evanston will pay $2.7 million to the family of a homeless man who died nearly two years after being paralyzed, allegedly from police brutality. The settlement was reached Friday in Cook County Circuit Court before Circuit Judge Lynn M. Egan. The case was scheduled for trial May 19. Richard Bledsoe was homeless, jobless and suffering from a mental disorder when Evanston police arrested him in November 1999 for throwing a beer can at a park ranger, said Paul P. Wolf of Mitchell, Hoffman & Wolf. Wolf alleged that police officers broke Bledsoe’s neck and rendered him a quadriplegic by placing him in a headlock. Evanston police denied all liability, said Richard L. Jones of Ryan, Smolens & Jones, who represented the city along with partner Richard T. Ryan. They said Bledsoe — who was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol and was “yelling, jumping around and kicking” while in the van — could have injured himself. Bledsoe died from infections related to quadriplegia in 2001. Bledsoe v. Evanston Police Department, et al., No. 00 L 6357.