VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Following the in-custody death of Rolin Hill, Virginia Beach Sheriff Rocky Holcomb made immediate changes within the Sheriff's Office to ensure similar incidents don't happen.

"My hearts and prayers go out to the Hill family. This is a terrible, terrible death and Rolin should be with us today," Holcomb said.

Former deputies Kevin Wilson, Michael Kidd, and Eric Baptiste have been charged with second-degree murder. They were among five deputies Holcomb fired as he called for the Virginia State Police to conduct an external investigation.

Kevin Wilson

Michael Kidd

Eric Baptiste

Body cam footage of in-custody death of Rolin Hill shown during bond hearing

In disturbing body camera footage of last year's incident, you can see a knee on Mr. Hill's neck, his legs pinned down, arms behind his back, all while he took repeated punches as deputies tried to undo a wrap that was on him. Holcomb said that wrap was put on by officers with the Virginia Beach Police Department.

Hill died at the hospital six days after the June 2024 incident. The medical examiner ruled his cause of death "positional and mechanical asphyxia" which happens when a person is unable to move from a position that impairs their breathing, resulting in respiratory failure.

"The wrap is a device that is used by the police department," Holcomb said. "We no longer have it at the Sheriff's Office. We have taken off the harness before and I won't go into the training, because it is a criminal investigation, but we have taken off the harness before and we do have training on it."

He added, though, that not all deputies have that training.

Holcomb said one of the first policy changes he implemented following the incident requires arresting officers to remove any "wrap" restraints from a suspect before they enter VBSO custody.

Death of man who was in VB Sheriff’s Office custody ruled homicide; 5 deputies fired

He went on to explain that all supervisors also had to go through command and control training. That training now includes a staff member who watches out for the inmate in any serious use of force incidents.

"They'll watch the inmate for breathing," Holcomb said. "They'll watch the inmate for positioning. They'll watch the inmate for signs of distress so that we can help them. It's not practical in every situation because it might be 2-on-1 or 1-on-1, and you don't have that, but in every situation where we can, we will have it."

Holcomb said there is also a supervisor watching the deputy sheriffs.

"You have to have somebody that's paying attention to all the people involved, all the deputies involved," Holcomb said, "because if a deputy is responsible for holding an arm and one for a leg, that's all they're seeing."

Since the incident, Holcomb has also brought back the rank of major. The role is currently filled by Joseph Bartolomeo. The rank was dissolved from the Sheriff's Office more than 20 years ago. Holcomb described the role as a subject matter expert who oversees all inmate operations. The lieutenants, captains and sergeants will answer to Bartolomeo. Another captain was also added to the correctional ranks.

Now, he's in the process of gaining perspective from the outside by trying to find a police executive group to come in and assess the Sheriff's Office's policies.

While Holcomb has taken many steps forward, he said the stride that would cover the most ground can't be made alone.

"The real problem is Mr. Hill was arrested for trespassing and failure to I.D.," Holcomb said. "He was clearly going through some type of mental health episode and he was brought to the jail. We need to implement a crisis receiving center here in Virginia Beach so that we can get these folks the help they need and not bring them to the back of my jail. They need medical experts helping them, not deputy sheriffs."

Holcomb said in the meantime, all of his staff have crisis intervention training to help navigate someone having a mental health crisis.

"I'm working at every turn to make every change I can," Holcomb said. "I'm leaning on my experience in the General Assembly. I'm leaning on my experience on city council to get funding that we need to get a crisis receiving center, and I won't stop until we get it done."

10 On Your Side learned Rolin Hill's mother, Gail, worked with Holcomb as a deputy for nearly 10 years. Hill's family continues to fight for justice and handed out green "Justice for Rolin" buttons, the symbolic color of mental health awareness, at a vigil honoring Hill at Mount Trashmore earlier this month.

Family and community members gather to remember Rolin Hill

In Hill's obituary, his family asked for donations to any mental health foundation instead of flowers. It read in part, "Mental health in America is still a major issue."

Below, Holcomb notes updates to jail policies, procedures and operations in the wake of Hill's death.

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