Scott Meirs
Scott Meirs, 50, served in the U.S. Army and was the husband of Vanessa Meirs. Ottawa County Sheriff Steven Kempker said he hanged himself with a bed sheet inside his cell at the Ottawa County Jail in Michigan in August 2013, and that he died four days later. His widow sued the county and three corrections officers, saying the deputies were deliberately indifferent to his medical needs and ignored warnings from other people held at the jail that he planned to kill himself. In October 2018 a federal jury found the officers not liable, and the county had been dropped as a defendant before trial.
Cause of death, as reported: Died by suicide (neglect alleged). Sheriff Steven Kempker says Meirs hanged himself with a bed sheet in his cell; his widow's lawsuit says deputies ignored other inmates' warnings that he planned to kill himself and were deliberately indifferent to his medical needs.
Reported by: Ottawa County Sheriff Steven Kempker (the agency that held him); widow Vanessa Meirs and her lawsuit (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: His widow sued Ottawa County and three corrections officers; a federal jury cleared the officers of liability in October 2018, and the county had been removed as a defendant before trial.