Civil rights attorney Ben Crump plans to announce a wrongful death lawsuit against SwimRVA on Friday outside the John Marshall Courts building in Richmond, formally escalating the case of 9-year-old King Overton, who drowned during his first day at the organization's summer camp. The press conference comes four months after Overton died at SwimRVA North in Henrico County, a tragedy that has since triggered state regulatory findings, a camp overhaul, and the appointment of a special prosecutor.
Overton died by drowning during his first day at SwimRVA's summer camp on June 15, 2026, according to WTVR CBS 6 News. His mother, Lataisha Johnson, had reportedly enrolled the 9-year-old in the camp so he could learn to swim. The station reports that Overton's family has said they still have not been told how long he was underwater before he was found.
That timeline question has loomed over the case since the early days of the investigation. Statements from the family's attorneys reported in June by the Henrico Citizen
indicated preliminary findings suggesting Overton may have remained submerged for up to 10 minutes before being discovered, with the family saying they received minimal initial timeline details from facility administrators. Preliminary findings also showed it was a bystander pool member — not a lifeguard or SwimRVA employee — who pulled Overton unresponsive from the water during a free-swim period, according to
WRIC
.
Medical Examiner Confirms Accidental Drowning
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia officially confirmed in June that Overton's cause of death was accidental drowning, ruling out medical emergencies as contributing factors, per the Henrico Citizen's reporting. That finding put to rest early speculation about whether a medical event occurred before he entered the water.
An investigation by the Virginia Department of Education separately determined that SwimRVA was operating an unlicensed child day program at the time of the drowning. The station's report noted that Virginia law requires child day programs to hold a license or secure a formal exemption, and state investigators found SwimRVA had claimed a single-focus exemption while actually spending substantial time on non-swimming activities like bowling and kickball — activities that go beyond what Virginia Code § 22.1-289.030 allows for unlicensed camps limited to single-focus instruction.
SwimRVA Overhauls Camp to Avoid Shutdown
Facing the threat of shutdown, SwimRVA reorganized its summer schedule in July to focus on dryland swim instruction in order to qualify for the single-focus exemption. On August 6, the Virginia Department of Education formally verified that the nonprofit had adjusted its programming to meet the exemption's requirements, after SwimRVA submitted a final compliance plan on July 29.
Founded in 2012 as the Greater Richmond Aquatics Partnership, SwimRVA is a regional nonprofit with an annual operating budget of roughly $6.9 million, according to Impala Digital. SwimRVA North, where Overton drowned, is in Henrico. The nonprofit focuses on water safety, health, fitness, sports tourism and competitive aquatics, with an emphasis on underserved communities—a focus that sits in stark tension with the regulatory failures investigators uncovered after his death.
Special Prosecutor Takes Over Criminal Review
A special prosecutor was assigned to oversee the criminal investigation into Overton's death in late August, after an attorney in the Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney's Office disclosed a potential conflict of interest. Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon Taylor had originally led the case review before the recusal shifted any potential criminal charge determinations to the outside prosecutor.
CBS 6 investigative reporter Melissa Hipolit has continued pressing SwimRVA, police, Taylor, and the Virginia Department of Education for answers about why and how Overton drowned. Crump's planned Friday announcement is expected to formalize the Overton family's wrongful death claims against SwimRVA in civil court, even as the question of criminal charges against facility staff or leadership remains unresolved. This is a developing story.
