Jennifer Edwards Baker

jbaker@enquirer.com

The family of a mentally ill man who died in custody of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office last year sued the county, Sheriff Jim Neil and three deputies Monday.

The federal civil rights lawsuit claims the sheriff's office reacted with too much force when they shocked Gary Roell Sr., 59, six times with a Taser stun gun in the early morning hours of Aug. 13, 2013.

"Gary's death is truly tragic," said attorney Al Gerhardstein, who represents Roell's family. "Sheriff (Jim) Neil has made progress on Taser policies since taking office, but it all came too late for Mr. Roell."

Deputies tried to subdue the man after responding to a 911 call just before 3 a.m. at a Sycamore Township condominium complex off Barrington Court.

"He's just acting crazy. He broke the whole window," the caller told the dispatcher, according to a recording of the conversation. "He pulled all my curtains out. He took the flower pots outside and threw them. And then he broke all the windows. I don't know what he's going to do now."

When the sheriff's office arrived, deputies found a man naked from the waist down smashing out the back windows of a condominium's rear patio.

Three deputies – Joseph Huddleston, Matthew Alexander and Willy Dalid – tried to arrest Roell Sr., but he was combative and punched Huddleston in the face, Neil said at the time.

One officer fired a Taser to subdue Roell and hit the man in his "backside," Neil said.

Roell was taken into custody and handcuffed, but minutes later deputies realized he was not breathing.

Deputies tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead at Bethesda North Hospital.

A spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office did not respond to a request for comment regarding the lawsuit.

At the time of Roell's death, however, sheriff's officials said the Taser was the correct use of force, according to department rules.

Gerhardstein disagrees.

"He was unarmed, holding a flower basket and a garden hose and naked from the waist down," the suit states. "He was clearly demonstrating symptoms of excited delirium. Officers provoked Mr. Roell rather than property employing de-escalation techniques."

In addition to using excessive force, one of the Taser shots also was to Roell's chest, "clearly outside the preferred target zone established by the Taser manufacturer," the suit reads.

The lawsuit alleges the deputies were not properly trained and supervised on handling encounters with mentally ill citizens.

The family seeks a jury trial and compensation for Roell's widow and children.

"They hope the lawsuit will help spur additional reforms regarding mental health and Taser policies, training and supervision in Hamilton County," Gerhardstein said.

In an interview with the Enquirer hours after his father's death, Gary Roell Jr. said he wanted the community to remember his father as the kind and loving man he knew: a grandfather of six children; a gifted musician who wrote and played his own songs around town.

But Gary Roell Sr. succumbed to mental illness more than 20 years ago, his son explained.

"When he was on his meds, he would give the shirt off his back to you," Roell Jr. said. "It's just amazing how much damage an illness can do to someone and a family. When people do not take their medication, they are overwhelmed and very difficult to control. It's really bad."

Roell Sr. suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, his son said, mental disorders that lead to a breakdown in thought processes, hallucinations, paranoia, frenzied mood swings, depression and distorted beliefs about the world.

He was prescribed medications to treat those conditions, but he wasn't taking them – or those for his physical health such as high blood pressure, his family said last year.

Roell Sr. was cared for by his second wife, a nurse, Nancy, but she was out of town that week, visiting friends in New Jersey. Still, the family thought he would be fine staying at the condo alone for the few days Nancy would be gone, Roell Jr. said.

Two of his sons tried to check on him shortly before the incident but he didn't pick up the phone, so they figured he was using the computer.