Fort Wayne woman dies in police custody

A family is grieving and demanding answers after Tia Meyers died in Whitley County Jail.

Fort wayne p-d.

A family is calling for justice after a 32-year-old fort wayne woman dies in police custody.fox 55's brianna dahlquist has an exclusive interview with the family's attorney who says the woman should still be alive.

Tia meyers was arrested on august 26th and booked into the whitley county jail on a bench warrant.three days later she was found dead alone in her cell.

Now, meyer's family attorney stephen wagner says, all her family wants is the truth.

"the underlying charges were fairly minor.

They were speeding charges, possession of marijuana and a small pipe.

We're not talking about a felony or violent crime.

It was a fairly minor crime and a bench warrant issued for a failure to appear."

Whitley county coroner randal dillenger says he received autopsy results this week showing meyers died from methamphetamines ingested before her arrest."the cause of death was due to methamphetamines and the manner of death was an accident."

Wagner says that explanation is too little too late.

"her family had made inquiries with the coroner's office and really had received no response and months had gone by and still no answers so they contacted me to find answers."

Like many americans, meyers was recovering from addiction.

Her family says the mother of four had finally gotten back on track but had stumbled.

Wagner says meyers struggle with drugs was no reason for her to die the way she did.

"how could she be arrested for such a minor offense and have such obvious medical problems?

In this case, it was her withdrawal symptoms and she died in literally three days.

Wagner says although his client was behind bars, she still had rights."when someone is taken into jail, they are helpless.

They cannot get their own medical care.

They can't get their own medications.

They are at the complete mercy of their jailor who has a constitutional knows an st some she did not deserve to die in a solitary cell in whitley county.

She was a mother, a daughter and someone who was battling an addiction problem but that is not a reason for her to die unnecessarily."

In whitley county, i'm brianna dahlquist.

Fox 55 news.