A wrongful death lawsuit was filed Thursday by the daughter of a 62-year-old man who hanged himself nearly two weeks ago in a Far South Side police lockup.
Mary Woods, daughter of Melvin C. Woods Jr., filed the lawsuit against the city of Chicago in Cook County Circuit Court.
Woods was taken into custody shortly after midnight on Nov. 20 on an aggravated assault charge after a complaint was signed against him from a domestic-related incident, police said.
Woods was later found hanging in a cell in the Calumet District police station, at 727 E. 111th St., police said. He hanged himself with his underwear and his death was ruled a suicide by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.
The four-count suit claims that the city failed to prevent Woods from hanging himself in his cell and failed to follow or have adequate policies to prevent prisoners from harming themselves.
The suit seeks more than $200,000 in damages and court costs.
Roderick Drew, spokesman for the city’s Law Dept., said he hadn’t seen the suit and could not comment.
