Deputy given suspension over prisoner's flight

The deputy is losing more than $2,600 in pay.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
AUSTINTOWN -- A Mahoning County deputy sheriff, whose unhandcuffed prisoner escaped from county court and led police on a wild chase that ended in a wreck, has been suspended for 30 days.
Sheriff Randall A. Wellington has notified Deputy Richard S. Ricketts of the disciplinary action by letter. The sheriff termed Ricketts' failure to double-lock handcuff restraints as unsatisfactory performance.
Ricketts, 24, of New Middletown, was hired June 25 as an intermittent deputy and earned $10.91 per hour. The 30-day suspension means a loss of $2,618.
Although intermittent deputies typically work no more than 1,000 hours per year, Ricketts had been working 40 hours each week and was set to be hired full time, Maj. Michael Budd said Wednesday.
Wellington told Ricketts that he must also attend and successfully complete a remedial training session on prisoner transport and handcuffing techniques.
"Upon completion of this training, you will be reinstated to active duty," the sheriff said in his letter.
What happened: Ricketts had been responsible for Ronald L. Simpson III, 19, of New Road. Simpson appeared Dec. 10 in county court, in the Austintown Plaza, on a charge of domestic violence.
Afterward, as 10 prisoners were being loaded into a transport van to return to the county jail in Youngstown, Simpson made a break for it. The transport van, attended by three deputies, had been parked in the court's rear parking lot.
Reports show that Simpson, who was not handcuffed, removed his shoes and leg irons and ran toward Ames Department Store at the front of the plaza. He commandeered a van that had its keys in the ignition.
Simpson then sped west on Mahoning, with Austintown police in hot pursuit. Police said that during the chase, with speeds clocked at 75 mph, Simpson struck a cruiser and a car driven by a Canfield woman.
Capture: After impact with the car at the Darbyshire Drive intersection, the van slowly rolled onto rocks off the corner of the road and Simpson was captured by police and taken to the county jail.
At the jail, deputies found a 5-inch metal piece that had been removed from a mop wringer and that they said was used by Simpson to unlock his leg irons. The mop had been left in the court's holding cell.
Simpson was later charged with escape, grand theft, two counts each of aggravated vehicular assault and failure to comply and three counts of vandalism.
The charges were bound over this week to a Mahoning County grand jury, court officials said. The domestic violence charge is still pending in county court.
meade@vindy.com