Suicide Victim Identified as Iraq War Veteran

Authorities have identified the man at the Friday as Bartholomew Ryan, 32, an Iraq War veteran and a resident of East Meadow, according to Newsday.

According to Nassau County Homicide Squad detectives, Ryan committed suicide by hanging and was found by a correction officer in his cell at approximately 3:30 p.m. He was then transported to where he was pronounced dead at 4:20 p.m.

Ryan was detained on misdemeanor charges of operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs and excessive speed, according to Newsday. He had only been at the East Meadow-based jail for one day before taking his life.

From Newsday:

Ryan, who was unemployed and periodically lived with relatives, was an electrical engineer who served from 2003 to 2008 based in Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. His family said they accept that Ryan had a persistent drug problem and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder, but they are angry that he could survive a war zone and die while in custody at home.

"I don't understand how somebody who's diagnosed with these things, who was on five different psych meds, can be put in a facility and not watched," Tom Ryan, his brother, told Newsday. "How could it be that he was put in a place with any instrument including a bed sheet or whatever?"

"Upon admission to the facility, he was examined by both medical and mental health staff before being placed on the special housing tier in the new admission area," Nassau County Sheriff Michael Sposato said in an email to Newsday.

The East Meadow-based jail has been under , as the number of untimely deaths at the jail continues to climb.

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