Pharrell‘s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in response to his cousin, Donovan Lynch, who was killed by a Black Virginia cop.
The 25-year-old was leaving a Virginia Beach restaurant when the officer confronted him. Police claim that Lynch had a firearm and it was recovered on the scene, but the officer’s body camera wasn’t activated.
The lawsuit notes that Lynch and a friend were at the restaurant when gunfire erupted and decided to leave as a result. That’s when officer Solomon Simmons approached them.
The suit claims that Simmons didn’t ask the victim for identification and didn’t mention that he was a law enforcement member.
“Immediately, unlawfully, and without warning, Officer Simmons fired his police-issued firearm at Mr. Lynch, shooting him twice and killing him,” the lawsuit says, as reported by NBC News. “At all relevant times, Mr. Lynch was not speaking or acting in a manner that would suggest that he posed any threat, let alone a deadly threat, to Officer Simmons or anyone else.”
Prior to Pharrell’s family filing the wrongful death lawsuit, the producer called for a federal investigation into his cousin’s fatal shooting.
“I had to speak at my cousin’s funeral, and was choked up with emotions,” he wrote in the social media post. “Too many unanswered City and State questions. Respectfully, I am calling for a Federal investigation. I also humbly ask that you all keep the family in prayer.”
