Family Files Suit Against Ottawa Co. Sheriff’s Dept Over Jail Death

GRAND RAPIDS, MI (WHTC) – A federal wrongful death civil lawsuit has been filed by the family of a 50-year-old Spring Lake man who committed suicide in the Ottawa County Jail over two years ago. Scott Meirs died by hanging himself with a bed sheet after an arrest for second-degree home invasion. Family members claim that deputies failed to respond properly to Meirs’ medical needs, including post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from a tour of duty with the US Army, and that Meirs had threatened to commit suicide before he took his own life on August 13, 2013. No mention of damages sought was included in the filing of the lawsuit. The Sheriff’s Department is not commenting on the litigation.