by Kerry Dougherty
Oh, look.
Virginia Beach just agreed to make the family of the late Donovon Lynch millionaires. The city announced Tuesday that the Lynch estate is getting $3 million. The city council approved the payout.
You remember Lynch, don’t you? He was the 25-year-old who was shot and killed by a police officer during an oceanfront orgy of violence and gunfights on the night of March 26, 2021.
That bloody Friday night left the Beach resort strip looking like a “war zone” and saw 10 people shot, two fatally, including Lynch.
Lynch was African-American and so was the officer who shot him, so there’s no unarmed-black-man-killed-by-white-cop narrative for local members of the media to push.
The officer who was involved claimed that he believed Lynch was racking a gun at the time he fired his service revolver in self-defense.
Lynch’s father sued the city for $50 million in a wrongful death suit that alleged the officer’s actions amounted to gross negligence and that he used excessive force.
It’s worth noting that the special grand jury that investigated the shooting disagreed. In fact, the grand jury determined that no crime had been committed and furthermore that the officer acted “in justifiable self-defense.”
That’s important. Chances are, the wrongful death suit would have been tossed out of court.
So why the fat settlement, Virginia Beach?
We’re waiting.
In the absence of a coherent reason, feel free to speculate.
Could it have something to do with the fact that Lynch’s cousin is rap star and billionaire Pharrell Williams, who yanked his Something in the Water Festival out of Virginia Beach after his cousin was killed, saying the city was “toxic”?
Could it have something to do with an August meeting in a swanky New York hotel where four city officials lunched privately with Pharrell and the next thing we knew, Something in the Water was on again?
Could it be that the city attorney’s office is afraid of this case?
The Resort City better come up with something better than the doublespeak contained in a joint statement that was released yesterday, according to The Virginian-Pilot.
“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,” the statement says.
That’s a ripe slice of gibberish. What exactly does it mean?
Anyone?
Before throwing tax money at the family of a young man who died during a chaotic night of escalating violence, multiple gunfights and bloodshed, someone needs to explain why this should result in a payday for the family.
Of course the Lynch family is sad and grief-stricken. Who wouldn’t be? That doesn’t mean the grieving family is entitled to get rich.
This suit sullies the reputation of the officer involved, suggesting that he did something wrong. It would be far better to see the city stand behind the men and women who put on the uniform and wade into the gang-fueled pandemonium that periodically breaks out around town.
One more thing: this sort of settlement encourages others to file lawsuits against Virginia Beach, in hopes of similarly hitting a jackpot.
In light of this settlement Virginia Beach should consider changing the city motto.
Who Wants to be a Millionaire sounds about right.
This column has been republished with permission from Kerry: Unemployed & Unedited.
