March 9, 2004 Doctor's family seeks $54 million in Berrien jail death

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A federal $54 million civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Berrien County and members of the Sheriff's Department for the family of a Niles physician who died in the jail in 2002 after allegedly suffering through three days of alcohol withdrawal.

The family's lawyer said the death of Dr. David Speers, 54, amounted to homicide because of what the jail staff did and failed to do as he suffered delirium tremens. In a press conference Monday, Niles lawyer Sean Drew announced the lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court. He said it will be heard at the Lansing federal courthouse.

Plaintiffs are Speers' estate and estate co-personal representatives Michael Speers and Bethani Speers-Vanderah, two of Speers' three adult children. They live in Iowa, while a third child, Erin Speers, lives in Niles.

Michael and Erin Speers attended Monday's press conference at Drew's Niles office. "It shouldn't have happened, that's it," Michael Speers said. Both said it had been impossible to get any answers to their questions until they had hired Drew in the fall of 2002. Their father died Aug. 23, 2002.

In addition to Berrien County, individual defendants named are Sheriff Paul Bailey, Deputy Sgt. Eric Hyun, Deputy Lt. Edward Knapp, Deputy Kevin Tierney, Deputy Perry Bundy, Deputy Barry Oliver, Deputy Buddy Chapman, Deputy Donald Mangold, Special Deputy Mark Haueisen, R.N., Special Deputy Pat Brown, and Special Deputy and Berrien County Medical Examiner Robert Clark.

Bailey said through a spokesperson that he had no comment and referred the matter to special counsel James Straub. Straub's representative said he had no comment. Berrien County Corporate Counsel McKinley Elliott said the county would "be commenting through our pleadings" to be filed with the court. He noted that what has been filed in the Speers lawsuit are allegations only.

Drew called Speers' death "tragic" and "horrific." He said it easily could have been avoided if sheriff's deputies had followed proper policies while Speers was in their custody in the Berrien County Jail from Aug. 20-23, 2002.

The lawsuit alleges that Speers lost 8 pounds in jail, dropping from 190 to 182.

Longtime ER doctor

Speers was jailed on Aug. 20 after failing a breathalyzer test given by a probation officer at the St. Joseph courthouse. Speers took the test during a pre-sentence screening on an impaired driving charge, and Berrien County Trial Court Judge Dennis Wiley ruled him in contempt of court for violating his bond conditions. The impaired driving incident occurred July 17, 2002, in the city of New Buffalo.

Speers was a Niles resident and had been a longtime emergency room physician at Lakeland Hospital, Niles, but had taken a leave of absence for personal reasons earlier that year. At the time of his incarceration, he had made arrangements to enter an inpatient detoxification and care facility in Center City, Minn., which specialized in treating doctors subject to high levels of stress.

The lawsuit alleges that sheriff's department staff did not properly care for Speers during his incarceration, even though Speers' family members told the staff that Speers was "subject to alcohol withdrawal syndrome" and that "if he were to go into delirium tremens, he could die."

"The Sheriff Deputies advised Mrs. Speers and her sister-in-law not to worry, that he would be taken care of," the suit states.

The 29-page complaint details the events of Aug. 20-23 and raises questions in a number of areas including what, if any, medical treatment Speers received during his incarceration, and why wasn't more medical attention given when Speers himself provided a history of alcohol withdrawal, depression and high blood pressure.

The suit also claims he did not receive prescribed medication and that his condition continued to deteriorate. It claims he showed alcohol withdrawal symptoms, including extreme agitation, talking in an incoherent manner, disrobing, eating paint chips, pacing and an inability to take food or water without help from fellow inmates.

Another issue raised in the complaint is why Speers remained in jail after Aug. 22, even though he had completed his three-day sentence. The lawsuit says Speers' release "was canceled and he was detained without legal authority and placed in the medical observation cell," while his wife and sister were told that he "would not be released due to his medical condition."

They were not allowed to see Speers at that time, and their request to have him transferred to the hospital was denied, the suit alleges. Speers was dead by early the next morning, and a state police investigation ruled his death to be "natural."

The three-count complaint alleges that county and sheriff's department personnel violated Speers' 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 14th Amendment constitutional rights and caused his death by "gross negligence, intentional willful and wanton misconduct, wrongful detention, excessive use of force, withholding of medication; and de facto withholding of food and water."

Drew said the $54 million figure was "an estimate of what we view are damages." He said both economic and noneconomic damages can be recovered under federal law. He cited the loss of wages, the pain and suffering Speers endured and his "horrific manner of death."

"Most importantly, federal law allows us to seek punitive damages to not only damage the wrongdoers but to warn others not to behave in a similar manner," he said.

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