Victim awarded $80,000 after injury at service

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. — A woman who broke her arm after being “slain in the spirit” during a charismatic worship service won $80,000 from the Long Island church where she was injured.

Sophia Reitan sued Upper Room Tabernacle Ministries for $4 million. Reitan said she had a “religious-bodily experience” during a women’s service in September, 1977, after the minister placed his hand on her forehead, causing her to fall backwards. She argued that the church should have had somebody in place to catch her.