The father of Rolin Hill, a 34-year-old who died while in the custody of sheriff’s deputies, filed suit against Virginia Beach, the city’s police department, Sheriff’s Office, jail and 911 call center for $25 million, alleging that systemwide failures caused his son’s death two years ago.
The wrongful death lawsuit was filed May 29 in Virginia Beach Circuit Court court by Stanley Hill. It alleges that dispatchers, police, deputies and their superiors were deliberate or indifferent in their failure to identify and secure care as his son experienced a mental-health crisis.
Employees, the lawsuit says, acted against city policies regarding the use of force and crisis intervention, diverting Rolin Hill away from critical care and into the judicial system.
The lawsuit’s nearly two dozen defendants include director of the city’s Emergency Communications and Citizen’s Services Jada Lee, Police Chief Paul Neudigate, Officer Justin Ford and Sgt. Michael Dougherty, as well as Sheriff Rocky Holcomb, Deputies Eric Baptiste, Michael Kidd, Kevin Wilson and Sgt. Marlon Ramirez.
Hill was at the 7-Eleven on Brigands Way, just blocks from his Virginia Beach home, when someone called 911 on June 4, 2024, to report he was being disorderly while trespassing, the lawsuit says.
Hill was in the midst of a mental-health crisis, the lawsuit says. He believed everyone was out to get him, resulting in erratic and aggressive behavior.
City policy maintains that emergency dispatchers can route 911 calls that require a mental health response to a 988 Regional Crisis Call Center for treatment rather than imprisonment on minor offenses.
Citing city policies, the lawsuit says dispatchers are supposed to notify officers responding to a possible mental health crisis to involve the city’s Crisis Intervention Team. In this case, the lawsuit alleges, neither responses was triggered, and the officers who arrived at the 7-Eleven did not treat him with his condition in mind.
When Hill did not respond to Dougherty and Ford’s instructions, they violently struck him and dragged him across the asphalt while he screamed in pain. After Hill was placed in the back of a police car, he got out and attempted to run out of fear, the lawsuit says.
Officers placed Hill in a restraint device called a Wrap, with his hands cuffed behind his back and his legs tied tightly together at the ankle, knee and thigh. Dougherty and Ford then drove him to the Virginia Beach Correctional Center where Virginia Beach Sheriff’s deputies placed him inside a cell.
It took more than five deputies, including Baptiste, Kidd, Wilson, Ramirez and several others to do so, the lawsuit states.
Still, deputies at the jail did not assess Hill’s need for mental health treatment or take steps to connect him with emergency medical services. While attempting to remove the wrap from Hill’s body, the lawsuit claims Baptiste, Kidd, Wilson and a third deputy pressed their bodies and knees into Hill’s back, neck and torso as they simultaneously punched and kneed him as he remained restrained on the cell’s floor.
Ramirez, while supervising the deputies, saw their conduct and didn’t intervene, the lawsuit alleges. The minutes-long episode was captured by security cameras inside the jail and deputies’ body-worn cameras.
A deputy, the lawsuit says, yelled “stop resisting” as Hill lie on the floor non-responsive. Eventually he stopped breathing and moving.
For six minutes, the lawsuit alleges, deputies left him on the floor before returning to find he had no pulse and wasn’t breathing. He was rushed to Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, where he died days later.
The Tidewater Office of the Chief Medical Examiner found the cause of his death was positional and mechanical asphyxia — when an object or force prevents a person from breathing. In October 2024, Holcomb terminated three deputies involved in the incident — Baptiste, Kidd and Wilson — and two more whose names were not released.
Months later, in a release detailing a set of reforms to prevent a repeat of the deputies’ conduct, Holcomb said “I remain committed to justice for Rolin Hill and for everyone involved.”
“I have faith in our criminal justice system to ensure justice is served.”
Holcomb said this week it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the lawsuit’s allegations.
“What I can say is that from the very beginning, my focus has been on accountability, transparency, and seeking the truth about what happened to Mr. Hill.”
In a statement, a city spokesperson called Hill’s death tragic but said “we do not feel that the city has legal liability.”
Stanley Hill’s attorney, Kenneth DeLuca, declined to comment on the lawsuit before consulting the Hill family. Last year, Stanley Hill told the audience at a rally that “Rolin is not here anymore, but what we’re trying to address is that we don’t want it to happen to anybody else. That’s the most important thing.”
The names of some deputies and dispatchers sued by Stanley Hill remain unidentified as city agencies have declined to release to the Hill family’s attorney video footage and the 911 call that would identify the individuals, the lawsuit says.
The footage and recording remain evidence in the ongoing criminal investigation and prosecution of deputies Baptiste and Kidd, who were charged with second-degree murder and several counts of assault and battery, as well as Wilson, who was charged with second-degree murder.
Baptiste’s trial is set for September, and Kidd’s trial is scheduled for December. Wilson’s trial is set to begin in February.
Staff reporter Emma Brown contributed to this report.
Nori Leybengrub, 757-349-3523, nori.leybengrub@virginiamedia.com