Officer Detail: Seth Walker Layton

Assignment History

Department	Job Title	Badge No.	Unit	Start Date	End Date
Virginia State Police (VSP)	Trooper Il		Division I Area 8 (Richmond/Hanover/Henrico)	2020-09-28
Virginia State Police (VSP)	Trooper		Division I — Henrico County/Richmond	2020-09-28
Virginia State Police (VSP)	Trooper II		Division I Area 8 (Richmond/Hanover/Henrico)	2020-09-25
Virginia State Police (VSP)	Officer	4108	Richmond Police Department	2017-06-05	2020-09-20

Descriptions

• Feb 13, 2023
  

  Seth W. Layton is a Virginia State Police trooper and former officer of the Richmond Police Department. In the summer of 2020, Layton, along with Officers Nicholas Caesar and Cleophas Williams, was named in an Internal Affairs complaint (I.A.D. 2020-0038) alleging abuse of chemical weapons and the use of excessive force on two individuals, one a journalist, during a police attack on a protest in early June.

  On September 22, 2020, Layton resigned from the Richmond Police Department of his own volition for unspecified reasons while the Internal Affairs investigation was still underway, according to investigators' notes in the RPD IA report.

  Layton, whose father is Fredericksburg Chief of Police Brian Layton, went on to work for the Virginia State Police. He began the VSP Training Academy for former law enforcement officers on September 28, 2020, then graduated in a ceremony in November. He was then assigned to work as a trooper in the Richmond/Henrico County region.

  Just over three months later (on January 9, 2021), Officer Layton and Officer Benjamin Bone shot and killed 18-year-old Xzavier Hill in his car on the roadside of Interstate 64. The killing, which resulted in a lawsuit, was a subject of intense scrutiny from the media and outrage from social justice advocates. Despite the public backlash, in 2021 the court ruled that Layton and Bone's murder of Hill was "justified". Layton continues to work for Virginia State Police.

Salary

Annual Salary	Overtime & Other Pay	Total Pay	Year
$58,416.76	$14,160.52	$72,577.28	FY2023

Incidents

Incident Wandering-Officers-2023
Date	Feb 25, 2023
Report #	Wandering-Officers-2023
Department	Decertified, Dismissed, & Wandering Ex-Police
Officers	Joseph A. Wood , Matthew S. Riley , Robbie Oberholzer , Patrick Joseph Digirolamo , Tyler Ryan Timberlake , Seth Walker Layton , Christopher R. Paroskie , Christopher Shane Simpkins , Michael Neal Santare , Jacob Stratton , Drake Edward Judy , Edward J. Ryan , Kenneth N. Werts , Paul L. Brothers Iv , Polly F. Griffin , Rodney D. Whited Ii
Description	This entry serves to consolidate records on officers who have gained new employment recently (at either a different department or once again at an old department) after resigning or being dismissed amid a controversial incident, lawsuit, or highly public incident of misconduct while in their previous role.
	Click to read more
Address	Everywhere, VA
Incident Benton-v-Layton
Date	Apr 14, 2022
Report #	Benton-v-Layton
Department	Virginia State Police (VSP)
Officers	Seth Walker Layton , Benjamin Ira Bone
Description
	Click to read more
Address	Richmond, VA
Incident Xzavier-Deyonte-Hill
Date	Jan 09, 2021
Time	11:59 PM
Report #	Xzavier-Deyonte-Hill
Department	Virginia State Police (VSP)
Officers	Seth Walker Layton , Benjamin Ira Bone
Description	Seth Layton and Benjamin Bone of the Virginia State Police stopped 18-year-old Xzavier Hill while he was driving on I-64, then shot and killed him.
	Click to read more
Address	Interstate 64 Goochland County, VA
Incident Gas-Attack-Police-Riot-0612020
Date	Jun 01, 2020
Time	06:00 PM
Report #	Gas-Attack-Police-Riot-0612020
Department	Richmond Police Department
Officers	Kevin Knudsen , Samuel Sungwon Yoon , Robert Misegades , John Barkley , Anthony Tyler Farnsworth , Anthony Catoggio , Albert Jon Korngage , Akeem Jones , Benjamin Neifeld , Brady Mcwhirter , Brian Corrigan , Brian Robinson , Brian Rogers , Brian Prendergast , Brandy Lamont Thornton , Christopher Jerrone Brown , Christopher Saunders , Cleophas Alexander Williams , Christopher M. Gleason , Christian James , Cody George Adams , Christopher Snyder , David Alexander Marakovitz , Dave Tamillia Conyers , Dominic Joseph Colombo , Douglas Rene Gutierrez , Derajon Clifton Chavis , Dario Buraliev , David Edward Stone , Edward Charles Costley , Ernest Christopher Ford , Fred Bates , Harry William Fitzpatrick , Jakob Michelle Torres , Jason Emmanuel Hudson , Jason Brandon Pittman , Jason Patrick Pritchard , Jason William Smith , Jessica Spence , John Matthew Story , Jonathan Myers , Junius Oneal Thorpe , Justin Land , Jean Joel Assad , Jason Kuti , Jason Reese , Jean-Guy Legouffe , Levi Manns Iv , Mark Thomas Janowski , Marshall Young , Matthew Robinson , Michael Walter Kiniry , Michael Musselwhite , Michael Lamont Verbena , Matthew Mchugh , Matthew Lewis Pollack , Oscar Reyes , Richard Carter Redford , Robert Daniel Jamison , Robert Taylor , Russell Pearce , Ryan Novak , Ryan Legros , Seth Walker Layton , Stephen William Pishock , Sean David Arthur Alston , Steven Durham , Timothy Lenae Burgess , Trishonda Chasteen , Benito Emmanuel Frias , Wayne Thomas Hartley , William Linard Travers
Description	Richmond Police officers attack a crowd of everyday citizens protesting the police killing of George Floyd with chemical weapons and physical violence. Two years later, a federal court ordered the Richmond Police Department to correct the record with an admission that it had lied about the circumstances of the attack (it did so with a tweet). While multiple lawsuits, complaints, and inquiries emerged from the terror of that day, no officer was fired as a result of their conduct on June 1, 2020.
	Click to read more
Address	1700 Monument Avenue near N. Allen Avenue Richmond, VA
Incident IAD-2020-0038
Date	May 31, 2020
Time	09:12 PM
Report #	IAD-2020-0038
Department	Richmond Police Department
Officers	Seth Walker Layton , Cleophas Alexander Williams
Description	In the summer of 2020, Layton, along with Officers Nicholas Caesar and Cleophas Williams, was named in an Internal Affairs complaint (I.A.D. 2020-0038) alleging abuse of chemical weapons and the use of excessive force on two individuals, one a journalist, during a police attack on a protest in early June.
	Click to read more
Address	1000 block East Marshall Street Richmond, VA

Links

• "55 members of Virginia State Police 133rd Basic Session receive their diplomas" Edit Delete
  WFXR-TV
• Allegations Against Seth Layton (I.A.D. 2020-0038): RPD Internal Affairs Division Report Edit Delete
  Richmond Police Internal Affairs (OpenOversightVA on DocumentCloud)
• I.A.D. 2020-0038 Edit Delete
  Richmond Police Internal Affairs (OpenOversightVA on Box)
• "Document shows pepper spray violations by Richmond police during '20 protests" Edit Delete
  Richmond Times-Dispatch (Patrick Wilson)

Other videos

• https://youtu.be/dsOTSIp05zU?t=55 Edit Delete

Videos

• "Dashcam video of the officer-Involved shooting of Xzavier Deyonte Hill"

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  Content Warning: This video shows the death of Xzavier Hill. - Virginia State Police/Richmond Times-Dispatch (via Youtube)

• Seth Walker Layton Deposition, Part One

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• Report: Virginia trooper involved in deadly shooting previously investigated as Richmond cop

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  WRIC ABC News