CNN
—
Town of Virginia Seaside has reached a $3 million settlement with the household of Donovon Lynch – a 25-year-old man who was fatally shot by a police officer final 12 months – town and the household mentioned in a joint assertion.
Lynch died after he was shot within the torso and thigh by a Virginia Seaside police officer in March 2021. Officers had been responding to a collection of shootings on the evening Lynch was shot.
Virginia Seaside police mentioned each the officer who shot Lynch and one other officer informed murder detectives on the time that Lynch – who was a cousin of singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams – had a handgun when he was shot.
Lynch’s father, Wayne, filed the federal lawsuit in opposition to town of Virginia Seaside and certainly one of its cops in the summertime of 2021, simply months after the lethal encounter.
When the lawsuit was filed, it didn’t say whether or not Lynch was in possession of a handgun, however Lynch household lawyer Jeff Reichert in April mentioned Lynch was legally allowed to hold a firearm.
A grand jury decided there was no proof to assist legal expenses in opposition to the officer who shot Lynch. He was not disciplined by the police division and was returned to full responsibility, Tiffany M. Russell, a spokesperson for town in Virginia, informed CNN through e-mail Thursday.
“As we have now discovered extra over time concerning the info of that fateful evening and encounter, we have now come to grasp {that a} collection of unlucky occurrences led to Donovon’s demise that evening – which in hindsight ought to by no means have occurred because it was later decided that neither Donovon nor the officer set in movement the occasions that transpired,” the joint assertion mentioned.
“We perceive that the settlement will under no circumstances reduce the grief and loss for the Lynch household,” Tuesday’s joint assertion mentioned. “Town’s ongoing assist for its public security personnel and its funding in officer training and technological developments underscores the Metropolis’s dedication to offering higher transparency.”