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Jury selection set for doctor's suicide in jail lawsuit

Posted February 01, 2016 6:00 am

The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A federal court jury will be selected in Pittsburgh to hear the lawsuit stemming from the 2008 suicide of a Nepalese doctor in a Pennsylvania county jail.

The estate of 33-year-old Shiva Lal Acharya contends Allegheny County Jail officials knew the doctor was suicidal after his arrest in a fatal hit-and-run accident, but didn't take enough precautions to prevent his death.

The doctor was driving from Chicago, where he was in residency, to a job interview in Easton, Pennsylvania. Authorities say police tried to stop him in Ohio, but he sped away because he didn't have a valid driver's only to lose control of his vehicle and kill a motorcyclist on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in September 2008.

The doctor was jailed awaiting trial when he hanged himself Dec. 13, 2008.

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