County blames widow in death after Tasing, not deputies

Hamilton County is trying to turn the tables on a woman who accused sheriff's deputies of shocking her husband so much with a Taser that he died.

County lawyers now say she's to blame for his death – not the deputies who fired the Taser. They sued her three weeks ago and could collect damages from the widow if they win.

The county argues that Gary Roell Sr. suffered from a serious mental illness and should never have been left alone at home by his wife, Nancy Roell, who was in New Jersey on a church mission trip at the time of his death. As his legal guardian, county lawyers say, Nancy Roell had an obligation under Ohio law to make sure he took his medication and did not become a danger to himself or others.

"As a guardian, she had responsibilities," said Julie Wilson, spokeswoman for the Hamilton County prosecutor's office, which is representing the county along with a private firm. "Because she didn't fulfill those responsibilities, what happened, happened."

Nancy Roell's lawyer, Al Gerhardstein, said he's never seen a claim like the county's and he'll fight to throw it out of federal court. He said Gary Roell, 59, had been active for years despite suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and was not in need of around-the-clock care by his wife or anyone else.

"We strongly disagree with the idea that a person who sticks their neck out and does the heroic work of a guardian is then at risk of being sued when other people harm the ward," Gerhardstein said. "She performed her responsibility as guardian very well."

The county's lawsuit, known as a third-party complaint, is in response to a lawsuit Nancy Roell filed last year in U.S. District Court seeking damages from the county. She said deputies used excessive force when they arrested her husband and shocked him with a Taser as many as six times outside their Sycamore Township condominium on Aug. 13, 2013.

Deputies arrived on the scene after receiving a 911 call about a man "acting crazy." Sheriff's officials have said they found Roell naked from the waist down, smashing out the back windows of a condominium's rear patio.

"He pulled all my curtains out," said the caller to 911, according to a recording of the call. "He took the flower pots outside and threw them, and then he broke all the windows."

Sheriff Jim Neil said after the incident that three deputies – Joseph Huddleston, Matthew Alexander and Willy Dalid – attempted to arrest Roell, but he fought them and punched Huddleston in the face. The sheriff said one of the officers fired a Taser and Roell was eventually taken into custody.

Minutes after he was handcuffed, the deputies realized he was not breathing. Efforts to revive him failed.

Nancy Roell's lawsuit claims the deputies lacked proper training, used excessive force and improperly handled a situation involving a mentally ill person. The county's suit says Nancy Roell was negligent and blames her for creating a dangerous situation when she went on the church mission, something her attorney said she's done many times before without incident.

County lawyers say Gary Roell had been "behaving irrationally" prior to her departure and his wife should have known he was a danger to himself and others.

"Gary L. Roell Sr.'s mental condition was deteriorating," the county said in its lawsuit. "Nancy Roell went to New Jersey, leaving her incompetent ward alone knowing he would not seek medical care for himself. ... His death was tragic and preventable."

The county's lawsuit seeks indemnity for the county and the deputies, which would prevent Nancy Roell from collecting damages. If the county wins, it could also seek damages from Nancy Roell.

The county says Roell's cause of death was "excited delirium," which resulted from his psychotic state. Nancy Roell's lawsuit says that delirium was fatal because the deputies escalated the confrontation and used excessive force.

Gerhardstein said Nancy Roell did all she could for her husband and could not have known he would become involved in a confrontation with deputies. He said the deputies are the ones who should have anticipated the possibility of dealing with a mentally ill person.

"We're at a time in America where we don't hospitalize many people, and we expect people to live in the community," Gerhardstein said. "Part of living in the community is having appropriately-trained law enforcement to respond."

Two advocacy groups decried the county's complaint against Nancy Roell on Wednesday, saying it is "Hamilton County's attempt to deflect blame from itself." Disability Rights Ohio and NAMI Urban Greater Cincinnati Network on Mental Illness issued a joint statement defending her.

"Hamilton County's legal arguments show that it doesn't understand the difficulties that families experience," said Gloria Walker, NAMI's executive director.

The leaders of Disability Rights, a nonprofit designated by federal law as the state's advocate for people with disabilities, worry the county's complaint will have a ripple effect. If successful, they say, the complaint could put legal concerns ahead of doing what's right for the mentally ill.

"This could lead to guardians or family members or courts acting out of fear of liability instead of the best interests of the person," said Kristen Henry, an attorney for Disability Rights.