SAGINAW, MI — Four Saginaw police officers committed a "savage attack" on a Saginaw man last year, killing him by using Tasers "without legal justification," a lawsuit on behalf of the man's family alleges.

Attorney James Harrington IV claims in U.S. Federal Court that officers Brian Guest, Jeffrey Madaj, Justin Severs, and Steven Wietecha violated Bobby Merrill's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights in an April 10 incident.

Harrington, who works at Fieger Law in Southfield, filed the complaint on Friday, March 15, on behalf of Merrill's mother, Dorothy Anderson, and his son, Demarquion Merrill, who are the representatives of Merrill's estate.

U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Ludington is presiding over the case, which was first reported by ABC12, WJRT. Attorneys on behalf of the officers have yet to respond.

While then-Saginaw County Prosecutor Michael Thomas last year ruled that Merrill's death was caused by alcohol and "high levels" of cocaine in his system at the time of the incident, the lawsuit claims that it was the officers' actions that caused the 38-year-old Merrill's death.

“As a direct and proximate result of the wrongful acts and omissions of the (officers), Merrill died,” the lawsuit states. “At no time during the brutal attack and killing of Merrill did the (officers) have a justifiable reason to use the force or the manner of restraint that they deployed.

“The ... savage attack and killing of (Merrill) was without legal justification.”

The lawsuit seeks $75,000 in damages — a requirement to have the lawsuit in federal court.

Harrington writes that the officers violated Merrill's Fourth Amendment rights to “protection from unlawful seizure, unnecessary force, unreasonable force, excessive force, and/or deadly force” and his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process.

Bobby Merrill

The lawsuit states that Severs “confronted” Merrill in the area of South Washington and Hess on the city's East Side about 4 p.m., but does not indicate why Severs approached Merrill. Officials have said police received a call that Merrill was acting erratically, running into traffic and jumping onto cars.

Merrill “repeatedly placed his hands in the air, with his palms open,” the lawsuit states. Severs then, without warning, deployed his Taser and “applied the electric charge into Merrill for several cycles,” Harrington writes.

Merrill “cried out and recoiled in pain,” Harrington writes. “As Merrill remained standing, with his hands in the air and visible, (Severs) cycled his Taser several times in rapid succession.”

Severs then reloaded the Taser and deployed it again, the lawsuit states, before doing so a third time.

“Severs fired three Taser air cartridges and applied no less than 11 Taser cycles, which varied in duration for three seconds to eight seconds, for a total of 60 full seconds of electrical charge delivered through Merrill's body in ninety-second period,” Harrington writes.

After that, Wietecha and Guest arrived on scene and, without warning, deployed their Tasers, the lawsuit states. This caused Merrill to fall to the ground, Harrington writes, and Wietecha deployed his Taser again.

Madaj then arrived on scene and also deployed his Taser, “in drive stun mode,” four to six times on Merrill's back, shoulders, and left wrist, Harrington writes. As Merrill was “face down on the ground,” Severs struck the right side of Merrill's body with his knee multiple times, Wietecha struck his left arm with his baton multiple times and placed his knee on Merrill's back and applied pressure,, Guest struck Merrill's right leg and held his legs down, and Madaj sat on his legs.

“Guest handcuffed Merrill's wrists with two sets of handcuffs, Madaj tied Merriil's ankles together with Merrill's shoelace, Severs and Madaj tied a rope around Merrill's ankles, Madaj attached a third set of handcuffs hanging down from the cuffs around Merrill's wrists, and linked the third set of handcuffs to the rope tied around Merrill's ankles,” Harrington writes.

The officers then “left Merrill unattended lying in the back of the patrol car while he was hog-tied,” the lawsuit states. Madaj returned to the car and noticed that Merrill was unresponsive, Harrington writes; after emergency personnel arrived and transported Merrill, now untied, to St. Mary's of Michigan hospital, he died at 5:11 p.m.

At no time, Harrington writes, did Merrill “commit any violent felony or crime;” “have a weapon or display any object that appeared to be a weapon;” “threaten in any way any of the (officers);” “pose an immediate threat of harm to any of the (officers) or any other person in the immediate vicinity;” or “pose any realistic likelihood of risk or flight.”

The officers, the lawsuit states, “knew or should have known of the substantial risk of death or serious injury from the application of a Taser for longer than 15 seconds” or “from the hog-tie restraint.”

After the incident, Harrington writes, the officers “conspired with one another to fabricate and disseminate false accounts regarding” the incident and “knowingly, falsely, and publicly stated that (they) and others were in a dangerous situation and/or were justified in using the type of force they did.”

Merrill's uncle, Cirven Merrill of Saginaw, claims the incident was not his nephew's first encounter with police and that the officers should have known he had mental problems.

“Maybe,” Merrill told MLive, “they should have done a better job handling him.”

Follow Andy Hoag on Twitter @awhoag