lit a candle 1d agoHis father called him "my firstborn son." That's the whole thing right there. 34 years old, an Eagle Scout, and this is how it ended for him.
Their story
Rolin G. Hill was a Virginia Beach son, brother and Eagle Scout whose life is remembered first by his family and only later by the public record that followed his death. Born on August 16, 1989, he excelled in sports as a young man, loved surfing and skateboarding, and was…
Rolin G. Hill was a Virginia Beach son, brother and Eagle Scout whose life is remembered first by his family and only later by the public record that followed his death. Born on August 16, 1989, he excelled in sports as a young man, loved surfing and skateboarding, and was described by his father, Stanley Hill, as a firstborn son and a personal hero. Friends who gathered at later vigils spoke of him in those ordinary, affectionate terms rather than as a headline.
On June 4, 2024, Hill was arrested by Virginia Beach police after a trespassing complaint at a 7-Eleven near Dam Neck Road. While he was being booked at the Virginia Beach Correctional Center that evening, deputies restrained him. He suffered a medical emergency in the booking area and was taken to Sentara Princess Anne Hospital. He died there on June 10, 2024, aged 34. Misdemeanor charges filed after the arrest were later dismissed. The Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by positional and mechanical asphyxia from restraint with neck and torso compression.
Virginia Beach Sheriff Rocky Holcomb asked the Virginia State Police to investigate. Five deputies were later terminated. A special grand jury indicted three former deputies on second-degree murder charges; related civil litigation by the family remains pending, and criminal trials have been repeatedly delayed into 2026. Those proceedings are part of the public record. They are not the whole of who Rolin Hill was.
His family has said that after his death he became an organ donor, and that his heart, liver and two kidneys helped save four other lives. Memorial notices asked that donations go to mental health foundations, reflecting a concern his relatives chose to name in his memory. Annual vigils organised by relatives have kept attention on both accountability and remembrance.
This page keeps the focus on that family account: an Eagle Scout and athlete from Virginia Beach, mourned by people who knew him long before cameras and court dates arrived, and whose death still shapes how the city debates custody, restraint and care for people in crisis.
Biography adapted from Metropolitan Funeral Service obituary (Rolin G. Hill); WTKR reporting; AP News; Virginian-Pilot medical examiner coverage; Virginia Beach Sheriff and Virginia State Police statements.
Six days in custody before he died. Six days.