Family sues Oakland Co., claim he took his own life after deputies at jail beat him

The family of a man who took his own life after he was allegedly stripped and beaten in the Oakland County Jail has filed a federal lawsuit.

The suit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of the estate of Milton Adelson against Oakland County and a dozen Oakland County Sheriff's deputies.

Detroit attorney Ven Johnson filed the suit and Adelson's family seeks damages and legal fees.

According to the lawsuit, Milton Adelson was involved in an Aug. 3, 2022 crash with three cars in Auburn Hills and arrested for drunken driving. He was taken to the Auburn Hills Police Department, then to a hospital, and ultimately to the Oakland County Jail.

About 40 minutes after Adelson was processed, a second person was placed in his cell, it said. As the doors closed, Adelson played with the cell door. Two deputies were at the door. One of them manually closed the cell's door and Adelson took a seat on the bench in the cell, the suit said.

It alleges the deputy announced that Adelson was trying to escape from the cell. Twelve 12 deputies then rushed into the cell to subdue Adelson, it said. Deputies lifted Adelson up from his seat, swung him into the cell door and threw him on the floor where they punched and kicked him repeatedly, according to the complaint.

Adelson's attorneys and family claim deputies dragged him through the jail's halls in a headlock and took him to a detoxification cell. They said deputies continued to beat Adeslon, stripped him naked and left him in the cell for hours.

He was released from jail without his cell phone or any money and had to walk 10 miles in the rain to his home in the middle of the night, the lawsuit said.

His family claims Adelson was traumatized by the alleged attack. They also said his anxiety and depression crippled him to the point where his employer fired him because he failed to report for work. Adelson was a machinist with 30 years of experience, they said.

On Feb. 4, three days before he was to appear in court on charges related to the drunken driving incident, Adelson hung himself, the suit said. At the time, he was 59.

His family's lawsuit claims sheriff's deputies at the jail used excessive force and humiliated Adelson, violating his rights under the U.S. Constitution's Fourth and Fourteenth amendments. It also alleges the deputies assaulted Adelson and inflicted emotional distress on him.

The Oakland County Sheriff's Office said it doesn't have a comment on the lawsuit or allegations.

"We do not comment on active lawsuits and we look forward to the actual facts coming out on this," Oakland County Undersheriff Curtis Childs said in a statement Thursday to The Detroit News.

cramirez@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @CharlesERamirez