VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — UPDATE: The City of Virginia Beach will pay Wayne Lynch a $3 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and the police officer who killed his son.
Lynch is the father of Donovon Lynch, 25, who was shot and killed by officer Solomon Simmons on March 26, 2021, at the Oceanfront.
Simmons has said he shot Donovon in self-defense when he saw him holding a gun he legally owned. A grand jury determined there was no probable cause to warrant criminal charges against Simmons.
Lynch filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Virginia Beach and the officer on behalf of his son's estate.
In March 2022, U.S. District Court Judge Arenda Wright Allen ruled that the lawsuit could proceed with most of the claims.
The suit alleged Simmons and the city violated Lynch's constitutional rights with excessive use of force, and that Virginia Beach had failed to properly train its police officers. It states that this failure to train partially caused the shooting that killed Donovon Lynch.
"As we have learned more over time about the facts of that fateful night and encounter, we have come to understand that a series of unfortunate occurrences led to Donovon’s death that night – which in hindsight should never have occurred as it was later determined that neither Donovon nor the officer set in motion the events that transpired," a joint statement from the city and Lynch estate said.
In the joint statement, the city acknowledged that the settlement won't lessen the grief and loss for the Lynch family but hoped it would "elevate our common humanity and how we all treat each other."
Although the settlement is less than the $50 million Lynch was asking for, it is in line with settlements in some of the most publicized police-involved shootings in the nation.
"His name has been vindicated,” Lynch, who's waded through a sea of grief for the past year and half with steadfast determination to clear his son’s name, told 13News Now. “It restores his good name his character, his honesty-- caring. It represents everything we told you about Donovon.”
On Wednesday, Wayne Lynch and Attorney Justin Fairfax held a press conference in front of the City of Norfolk Courthouse.
They repeated their thankfulness for this form of justice.
You can watch the full press conference below:
Donovon was a former college football player who was a business owner. His popularity among friends, family and community members earned him the title of “gentle giant."
Negotiations between Lynch, his attorneys and city officials went late into the early morning hours Friday. The Virginia Beach City Council approved the settlement Tuesday evening.
Lynch is represented by Martin Law D.C, the Law Office of Justin E. Fairfax and attorney Jeff Reichert.
"Donovon Lynch will live on forever, not just because of the settlement but because of who he is and now the world gets to see who he is,” Fairfax said. "We get to tell the truth about his extraordinary life and his legacy and this is a vindication of his name and his family.”
According to the Associated Press, the largest pre-trial civil rights settlement of $27 million dollars was paid to the family of George Floyd in Minnesota.
Other high-profile police-involved shooting deaths including Philando Castile, Minneapolis; Tamir Rice, Cleveland; Michael Brown, Ferguson, Missouri and Freddie Gray, Baltimore reaped settlements ranging from $1.5 million dollars to $6.4 million dollars.
"There’s no amount of money—there’s no dollar figure that you can give to a family to deal with the loss of their child. It should never happen and that’s really part of the justice here that we don’t want this to happen any other family ever again,” Fairfax said.
Lynch believes his son would be proud of how hard he fought on his behalf and knows exactly what he would say if could speak to him: “Let’s go! That's what he would say. Let's go. Good job dad. Good job dad-- I knew you could do it!"