CULPEPER, Va. – The family of a Virginia man who died in custody at a regional jail has received a $725,000 settlement.
Sherry Thornhill, the mother of Culpeper resident Christopher Shawn Berry, filed the lawsuit after her son's 2014 death in the Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange.
The lawsuit contends that jailers ignored evidence of severe withdrawal symptoms the 37-year-old Berry endured after being taken into custody. The lawsuit says Berry was addicted to alcohol and heroin, and exhibited severe vomiting, diarrhea, seizures and dehydration before his death, and jailers knew he would be undergoing withdrawal.
The Culpeper Star Exponent reported Tuesday that Thornhill will receive a $725,000 settlement to be paid by the state Compensation Board and that the federal lawsuit has been withdrawn,
Other details of the settlement were unavailable.
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