VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Wayne Lynch feels it’s time to finally smile, a feeling that's been hard to come by since March 26, 2021.
As of Wednesday, he knows the death of his son Donovon will never be forgotten.
Roughly a year and a half after a Virginia Beach police officer shot and killed Donovon Lynch in a night of chaos at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, the estate and city reached a $3 million settlement.
RELATED | Virginia Beach reaches $3M settlement with Donovon Lynch's father in wrongful death lawsuit
This comes months before a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit would have come to trial at the Norfolk Federal Courthouse in April.
Lynch’s attorney and former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax says now, Donovon’s name is forever cleared.
“Key in that statement is that Donovon had nothing to do with the events that led to his death,” Fairfax told media outside of the federal courthouse Wednesday.
In a joint statement released this week, the city acknowledged they have “come to understand a series of unfortunate occurrences led to Donovon’s death that night.”
Fairfax added that the pretrial process only shed light on the reality they say they always knew.
“I deposed officer Solomon Simmons, but from this standpoint, it illuminated many things, we knew the truth from day one: Donovon Lynch had nothing to do with the events of that night, nothing to do with his own death," Fairfax said.
Now Wayne Lynch looks to the future, continuing to honor his son’s life.
“I said he would be vindicated, his character would be restored and reputation would be restored,” Lynch said.
“We’re ending where we started, with the truth,” Fairfax said.
As for the Virginia Beach police officer who shot and killed Donovon Lynch, 13News Now confirmed he is now back to full duty with the Virginia Beach Police Department.