CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cuyahoga County Jail guards and medical personnel are not liable for the death of a Maple Heights man who died after he ingested heroin he smuggled into the jail in his rectum, a federal judge has ruled.

The family of Robert Sharp did not prove that jail guards, nurses and a doctor who tended to Sharp after receiving a report that he hid heroin were deliberately indifferent to Sharp's medical needs, Chief U.S. District Judge Patricia Gaughan wrote in a decision Friday.

"Rather, the evidence shows that they acted appropriately under the circumstances and given the knowledge that they had," Gaughan wrote. "While Sharp's death was certainly a tragic event, it was not the result of Defendants' wanton, reckless, or malicious actions."

Gaughan dismissed the lawsuit, filed in 2016 against the county and MetroHealth.

Sharp, 36, was found unresponsive in an isolation cell and was taken to Lutheran Hospital.

He died of an accidental heroin overdose, according to an autopsy by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office. The opinion says he hid a bag of heroin in his rectum and ingested it, leading to his overdose.

Gaughan's decision says none of those named as defendants in the lawsuit appeared to know that Sharp swallowed or ingested a bag of heroin. Rather, the judge wrote that employees only believed Sharp hid a bag.

David Malik, an attorney representing Sharp's family, said he intends to appeal Gaughan's decision.

"Heroin is a drug that hijacks the brain. The people ingesting it or keistering it or using it need help from jail employees in order to get the correct treatment," Malik said. "In this case, everybody ignored the effects of heroin on the brain and in a county with an epidemic of heroin abuse. In my opinion, it's incumbent on jail officials, at a minimum, to send these people to the emergency room when heroin use is suspected or known."

A county spokeswoman did not immediately submit a comment.

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