VA Police Recruit Dead After Head Blows During Training | Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp

A lawsuit seeking $35 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages has been filed in Norfolk, VA Circuit Court by the wife of a former police recruit who died in training. The suit alleges the recruit’s death was the result of “repeated, violent blows to the head” by instructors that produced bleeding in the brain, According to the Virginian-Pilot, the suit names the former police chief, the current acting police chief, former senior assistant chief over the training division and officers who trained recruit in defensive tactics.

The 40-year-old police recruit died in December 2010 after undergoing a week of defensive tactics training. Norfolk’s police department and other agencies have since banned intentional head strikes during training.

Sadly, traumatic brain injury is a dangerous type of personal injury often caused by a severe blow to the head. To learn more about what to you or a loved one can recover from a wrongful death and brain injury claim, check out our videos on the subject.

LC