MEIGS COUNTY, Ohio — A lawsuit in the Meigs County Court of Common Pleas filed Nov. 4, 2025, alleges the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office created a “death trap” that killed both a fleeing suspect and a bystander during a 2023 high-speed pursuit.
The suit was brought by Rosanna “Renee” Carnahan and Stephen Carson, the mother and father of Zachary Carson.
Zachary Carson was driving his car just outside Middleport on the evening of Nov. 5, 2023, when law enforcement officers attempted to stop a fleeing suspect travelling in the opposite direction. Officers deployed spikes to stop the fleeing individual, Zack Jeffers.
Jeffers then lost control of his vehicle, which collided head-on with Carson’s, according to the lawsuit.
Both Carson and Jeffers died.
“Mr. Zachary Carson was an innocent bystander who did nothing that caused or contributed to his catastrophic injuries and death, which was unnecessary and preventable,” the lawsuit says.
The suit argues the deployment of spikes, ordered by Deputy Kyle Calendine and executed by Deputy Cody Gilbraith, was reckless and that the deputies disregarded numerous spike deployment guidelines.
The suit also argues the high speed pursuit of Jeffers was unnecessary.
The case names Meigs County, Ohio, Mason County, West Virginia, and Point Pleasant, West Virginia as defendants, along with agencies and individuals in each locality that participated in the law enforcement response. Meigs County defendants include Gilbraith, Calendine, and Meigs County Sheriff Scott Fitch.
All defendants in Meigs County, Mason County, and Point Pleasant have denied wrongdoing in the case.
Neither the attorney for Carson’s estate nor any attorneys representing the various defendants in the case responded to the Independent’s Jan. 7 requests for comment for this story. Fitch also did not respond to a request for comment.
The case is scheduled for a pretrial hearing Wednesday, Feb. 4.
High-speed chase
On Nov. 5, 2023, a Mason County, West Virginia woman called 911 concerned that Jeffers was attempting to break into her home, according to the lawsuit. After the events of that day, law enforcement officers described the incident in reports as an “active domestic,” according to the lawsuit.
Jeffers drove away from the home in a blue Ford Mustang convertible and about nine minutes later was intercepted by the Mason County Sheriff’s Office at a Point Pleasant convenience store. Jeffers identified himself and said he was “headed to Meigs County,” according to the lawsuit. Deputies were able to take his license plate number.
According to the lawsuit, deputies asked Jeffers if he had a firearm, as the caller had reported. Jeffers then fled, although the lawsuit says no officers had observed a firearm and none was recovered from the subsequent crash.
Officers from the Mason County Sheriff’s Office, the Point Pleasant Police Department, and the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office pursued Jeffers as he travelled from Mason County, West Virginia, into Gallia County, Ohio, and then on to Meigs County northbound on Ohio State Route 7.
According to the lawsuit, the Meigs County 911 radio log recorded Meigs County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Kyle Calendine directing deputy Cody Gilbraith to deploy spikes device to stop Jeffers.
The device used was a Stop Stick, described by its manufacturer as “the world’s leading tire-deflation device” and designed to end high-speed pursuits “quickly and safely.” It comprises a collapsible plastic housing filled with 2⅝ steel triangles that allow the spikes to work no matter which side of the device is facing up.
At approximately 9:08 p.m., Jeffers’ vehicle ran over the Stop Stick device. On a Meigs County 911 recording of the accident, Gilbraith stated, “I nailed him!” and then said, “Get medics, get medics, this is bad!”, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit says Zachary Carson was southbound on SR 7 and traveling below the speed limit when Jeffers hit the spikes, lost control of his vehicle and crossed over the center line. Carson unsuccessfully “attempted appropriate evasive maneuvers immediately before impact, according to the lawsuit.
After the collision, Calendine showed “intentional disregard of Mr. Carson’s loss of life,” the suit states. In bodycam footage, Calendine allegedly says, “It is what it is” twice, and described Carson’s death as “the price of business,” according to the suit.
Officers ignored training, suit argues
The lawsuit argues Gilbraith’s deployment of the Stop Stick device used to stop Jeffers was highly dangerous, quoting extensively from training materials for the device, alleging that the deployment went against the guidance on several points.
The manufacturer’s directions for using Stop Sticks state that the device should be deployed only in pre-planned locations determined by the office to be safe.
The Meigs County Sheriff’s Office deputies deployed the device at an “impromptu location” that had several “unfavorable physical characteristics” that made deployment unsafe, the suit alleges, including obscured visibility and limited space for Jeffers to safely maneuver his vehicle after running over the spikes.
The training materials also urge “EXTREME CAUTION when pursuits reach EXCESSIVE SPEEDS,” according to the lawsuit. A Mason County 911 employee told Meigs County 911 that the pursuit was on “7 North, 100 miles an hour,” according to the suit.
Law enforcement should “LIMIT TRAFFIC on the roadway” when deploying Stop Sticks, according to device training materials.The suit says there are no records demonstrating that the deputies made any attempt to implement traffic control measures that would have prevented other cars from being in the immediate vicinity.
There is no record that Gilbraith faced any discipline or investigation over the deployment of spikes in the pursuit of Jeffers. A request for records on Calendine remains pending with the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office.
The lawsuit also argues that Mason County and Point Pleasant, which acted in concert with the Meigs County officers, could have done several things to prevent a fatal outcome.
Mason County deputies should have blocked Jeffers vehicle from leaving the Point Pleasant convenience store and arrested him then. Instead of engaging in a high-speed chase, Mason County and Point Pleasant authorities should have issued a warrant for Jeffers’ arrest, the suit argues.
The lawsuit also alleges that communications between West Virginia and Ohio law enforcement agencies were hampered by incompatibility of communication systems, which prevented West Virginia authorities from directly contacting their counterparts in Ohio. Those limitations should have given the departments reason to avoid a chase across state lines, the suit argues.
The suit further alleges that the West Virginia officers and deputies violated policy by continuing the pursuit across state lines.
All responding agencies, the lawsuit argues, failed to adequately or appropriately train employees.
Meigs County leadership
Scott Fitch remade the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office when he took over as sheriff in late 2022, tripling the number of full-time, part-time and reserve deputies on staff. Many of those hires came from Nelsonville, where he served as police chief for nearly three years.
A lawsuit filed in March 2024 by former Meigs County Sheriff’s Office deputy Jerry Darst argues Fitch fired Darst because of his age and “consistently hired younger deputy sheriffs in their twenties or thirties.”
Fitch has denied the allegations in court filings. When the Independent asked Fitch about Darst’s lawsuit in a June 2025 interview, he laughed and declined to comment.
Various officers Fitch hired have faced issues in previous law enforcement jobs — including Calendine, who directed Gilbraith to deploy spikes in the pursuit of Jeffers.
Before joining the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office in April 2023, Calendine was terminated from the Gallipolis Police Department after the department received information that he was the subject of a criminal investigation by another agency, according to records obtained by the Independent. That agency did not ultimately collect “enough evidence to file criminal charges.”
The Independent has requested additional records related to Calendine’s history as a law enforcement officer.
Benjamin Adams was among the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office deputies who responded to the pursuit, and was accused of multiple instances of misconduct while working under Fitch in Nelsonville. Gilbraith was involved in one of those incidents, too.
Gilbraith was also initially named in a wrongful death lawsuit over an incident at Southeast Ohio Regional Jail, though he was dismissed from the suit.
Gilbraith resigned from SEORJ in 2018 — the same year he started there — after he was recommended for termination due to issues with his performance, according to records obtained by the Independent.
In a June 2025 conversation with the Independent, Fitch denied giving any sort of preferential treatment to job applicants who previously worked under him in Nelsonville.
“The ones that I hired was the most qualified,” he said.
Gilbraith left the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office in October 2025 to work as an officer in Glouster, according to information available via the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy records portal. Calendine and Adams remain employed at the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office.
Sam Stecklow of the Invisible Institute contributed reporting to this story.
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