The family of 9-year-old King Overton is suing the Virginia summer camp where the boy drowned this past June. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Richmond attorney Mark J. Krudys will represent the plaintiffs in a wrongful death lawsuit against SwimRVA over Overton’s drowning. A press conference with Crump, Krudys and the family is scheduled for Friday afternoon in Richmond outside the John Marshall Courts Building.
Overton’s mother, LaTaisha Johnson, sent her son to SwimRVA’s summer camp on June 15, 2026, to take swimming lessons. Around 2:30 p.m., he was pulled unresponsive from the pool. Staff reportedly began CPR before first responders arrived, and King was taken to a local hospital, where he died.
“I’m devastated. I’m numb. I’m starting to get mad. It’s just a bunch of emotions all built at once,” LaTaisha Johnson told reporters following her son’s death. “He was the smallest person who was like the biggest personality. And he loved to joke. He was just… he was great,” Johnson told the station. “He was my best friend, he was really my best friend.”
“King was our everything,” Johnson wrote on Facebook. “He was the love of our lives our heart our joy and our reason for so much. The pain we are feeling right now is unbearable.”
According to Overton’s family, they still have not been told how long King was underwater prior to his death. SwimRVA said in a statement that it is cooperating with authorities as they review the circumstances surrounding the incident. “Our hearts are with the child’s family and loved ones during this loss,” the organization said, extending condolences to everyone affected.
In August, a special prosecutor took over the case after a conflict of interest was discovered inside the Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
