I Don't Understand

I read the following article on Oregonlive.com, and don't understand how it is possible to award this woman money. I think this symbolizes everything that is wrong with the civil court system in America. It doesn't matter what the situation is, if a government entity is involved, you will get money. In this situation, the article states that a woman dressed in all black, crosses TV highway in Beaverton, without a crosswalk, at night, and is hit by a police officer. For some reason the jury awarded the lady $500,000 saying the officer should have seen her. Why?

It's a person in black at night, in a place where there shouldn't be pedestrians! If you are making a bad decision, and get hurt, why should you be rewarded? Don't get me wrong, this is a tragic accident and I'm sure both the woman and the officer have had long term ramifications. But why reward bad behavior? She made a bad choice, and the taxpayers of the City of Beaverton are paying the price. I don't agree with this and am tired of these cities having to pay 6 digit settlements over and over again. I've seen it with the protesters that come into the city and intentionally cause problems. When they are treated as the criminals they are, they sue and the city pays instead of fighting because it's 'cheaper'. However, what are the long term costs of the policy that says, 'Sue us and we'll pay'. I think that is far more expensive!