HUNTINGTON – The parents of a Huntington woman blame a host of city and county personnel for not doing enough to prevent their daughter’s suicide.
Rex and Diana Eagon, as administrators of the estate of Darien M. Eagon, filed their complaint January 9 in U.S. District Court against Cabell County Emergency Medical Services, Cabell EMS Director Gordon Merry, an unidentified Cabell EMS agent, the Huntington Police Department, Officer J. Smith, Officer D. Anderson, Officer M. Cremeans, Captain Merritt, the Cabell County Sheriff’s Department, the Cabell County Commission and Sheriff Chuck Zerkle.
According to the complaint, Darien Eagon was drinking alcohol and expressed repeated suicidal thoughts to her then live-in boyfriend. The boyfriend called Darien’s parents, who went to the residence. The boyfriend also called Cabell County 911 and repeated Darien’s suicidal ideation, and Cabell EMS and HPD employees arrived at the residence while her parents and boyfriend were there.
Body camera footage from HPD confirms Cabell EMS personnel told the plaintiffs that Cabell County Sheriff’s Department employees would not come out because “they do not do mental hygiene orders on Sundays,” according to the complaint. “EMS personnel further stated to the parents that EMS and the Huntington Police could not do anything further because Darien was alert.”
The body camera footage also indicates this was not an isolated occurrence, according to the complaint.
“Huntington Police Department and EMS personnel noted ‘the last one was really bad’ and St. Mary’s (Medical Center) wouldn’t take him,” according to the complaint.
Later that day, the boyfriend says he left the residence because “Eagon was being abusive toward him.” He returned to the home later that evening after “he received a voice mail ‘that sounded like Darien choking.’”
Just after midnight on January 11, 2021, the boyfriend and his friend found Darien Eagon had hanged herself at the residence. Authorities again were notified, and Eagon was declared dead by suicide.
The plaintiffs say the defendants failed to train employees to handle the situation presented by Darien Eagon’s condition and imminent danger. They say that deliberate indifference to her health and safety – as well as to the suffering and need of mentally ill and unstable residents of Cabell County in general – was a violation of constitutional rights. They also say the actions of the defendants violated state constitutional rights.
They also accuse the defendants of ordinary and/or professional negligence, reckless infliction of emotional distress, disability discrimination in violation of the West Virginia Human Rights Act because Eagon was qualified to receive the benefits of public mental hygiene services and disability discrimination in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
The plaintiffs seek compensatory damages, punitive damages, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
The estate is being represented by Robert M. Bastress III of DiPiero Simmons McGinley & Bastress in Charleston. The case has been assigned to District Judge Robert C. “Chuck” Chambers.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 3:23-cv-00013
