City of Richmond, police officer agree to pay $3.75 million in wrongful death lawsuit

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – The City of Richmond and a Richmond Police Department officer have agreed to pay the family of an 18-year-old killed in a crash $3.75 million as part of a wrongful death lawsuit.

The night of April 7, 2022, Richmond Police Officer Richard Johnson and an officer in training were called in as backup officers for a burglary call. Johnson ran a red light at the intersection of Bells Road and Castlewood Road, hitting and killing 18-year-old Jeremiah Ruffin and 19-year-old Tracey Williams.

The family of Ruffin filed a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming Officer Johnson acted recklessly and with complete neglect of the safety of other drivers. In July of 2024, the city and Johnson settled with the Ruffin family without admitting liability or negligence.

“By reaching a settlement, you can pretty well tell that the defendants in the case decided that ‘We don’t want to run the risk of going to trial, so we’re going to settle this case,'” said 8News Legal Analyst Russ Stone.

In April of 2023, the city and Johnson agreed to pay the family of Williams $3.1 million after Williams’ mother filed a $200 million lawsuit . This came less than a month before a jury found Johnson guilty of involuntary manslaughter in connection to the crash.

Later that same year, a judge sentenced Johnson to six months behind bars.

“Because he was a police officer and had no record and that it was, you know, not an intentional act on his part — the judge cut him a bit of a break as far as the sentence goes, and that’s understandable,” said Stone. “But there’s no taking away the fact that two people died.”

8News reached out to attorneys for both the plaintiff and the defendant. The plaintiff’s attorney responded with the following statement:

“The matter has been resolved by the parties pursuant to a confidential agreement.  We ask that everyone keep the Ruffin family in their thoughts and prayers as they continue to deal with the devastating loss of Jeremiah.”

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