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Wrongful Death
Settlement in Wrongful Death Case Reached
Posted on Oct 27, 2008
Earlier this month, details of the settlement in a $15 million wrongful death lawsuit involving the 2005 death of a Lynchburg man in the custody of the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office were revealed in court.
Melva Taylor Davis, the mother of Sanchez Taylor, and his two brothers will equally share the $325,000 settlement, according to court testimony. As a condition of the settlement, the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office admits no wrongdoing or liability in Taylor’s death.
According to Davis’ attorney, Arelia Langhorne, “The court is aware that this case is highly contested. That has been one of the most challenging cases in my 32-year career.”
Langhorne and Carlene Johnson, the attorney representing the deputies involved in the arrest, both felt that the settlement was fair. Judge Norman Moon agreed and accepted the settlement terms.
The Virginia Office of Risk Management, which insures law enforcement officers against this type of action, will be in charge of paying the settlement money.
Sanchez Taylor, who was 28 years old at the time of the incident, died on June 16, 2005 after a confrontation with Amherst County deputies. After Taylor’s vehicle was found abandoned in a northbound lane on U.S. 29, police officers responded to an alert of a break-in at nearby Bethel Welding.
According to statements filed in court, Deputies Darren Givens and Debbie Tinnell discovered Taylor at the back of the welding shop and attempted to arrest him. The deputies claim that Taylor refused to follow their orders to get on the ground and they had to handcuff him while he was lying on a ladder behind the shop. They tried to move Taylor, but could only get him a few feet away from some ornamental racks.
Two more deputies arrived at the scene and helped control Taylor, who was still putting up a fight. The officers put him on the ground and later noticed that he was having trouble breathing and it appeared that he was having a seizure. A few hours later, Taylor died at Lynchburg General Hospital.
Davis believes that the police officers held her son on the ladder and racks, which caused suffocation. Medical experts hired by the sheriff’s office alleged that Taylor’s death was accidental. However, the state medical examiner in Roanoke reported that Taylor’s death was a homicide.
The four police officers involved in the federal lawsuit were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.
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