BOARDMAN Police kept busy with calls

Police responded to a high number of calls all weekend.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Road rage assaults, drunken juveniles and a list of other reports kept township police busy over the pre-Christmas weekend handling an unusually high volume of calls.
In one instance a 61-year-old Struthers man was charged with two counts of aggravated menacing, assault and felonious assault after an altercation in the parking lot of Wal-Mart on Doral Drive.
According to police reports, a 24-year-old Youngstown man told police he was traveling on Interstate 680 when the Struthers man began to follow him, trying to force him off the road. The Youngstown man told police he went to the department store to find help.
The Youngstown man told police that he got out of his car in the parking lot and the Struthers man grabbed him and slammed him into the side of one of the store's security trucks three times. Reports say the Struthers man also twisted the Youngstown man's girlfriend's arm, choked her and threatened to kill her.
The Youngstown man also told police that the Struthers man tried to run him over with his car as he left the store's parking lot.
Police reports show that the girlfriend received minor scratches on her right hand.
Parking-space dispute: Police are also looking for a man who was said to have kicked a Youngstown woman's car several times and spat on her during an argument over a parking space outside BW-3 restaurant in Southern Park Mall.
The 41-year-old woman told police that her friend was standing in a parking space to reserve the spot until she was able to pull into the space.
Reports say that while the friend was standing in the spot another car pulled up and let a male passenger out in an attempt to stand there and reserve the space.
The woman told officers that when she pulled into the parking space, the other person became angry and demanded to know why she was parking in that spot.
The man argued with the woman and began kicking her car door, causing dents and damage to her side view mirror.
The woman told police that when she got out of the car, the man spit on her.
Teens arrested: Police also arrested two New Castle, Pa., juveniles -- one 14 and the other 17 -- who they say were drunk and disruptive in the parking lot of Southern Park Mall.
According to police reports, officers found the two teens in the parking lot arguing with mall security. The older boy told police he did nothing wrong and was going to drive home, but officers, sensing he was drunk, told him he could not drive.
The 17-year-old, reports said, became angry and belligerent toward officers
That continued while he was being transported to the police department. At the police station, the older boy said he was intentionally slammed head-first into a wall by officers.
According to police reports, Boardman Fire Department and an ambulance were called. Reports say ambulance personnel said the boy had an old scrape on top of his head that could not have been caused during the 25 minutes he was in police custody.
The younger boy was charged with disorderly conduct. The older boy was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and possession of tobacco.
jgoodwin@vindy.com