MAHONING COUNTY Ex-Campbell officer gets jail in assault

The judge sentenced Darkadakis to four years in jail, but he'll serve three months.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A former part-time Campbell policeman will spend 90 days in jail for assaulting a Girard man in December.
William T. Darkadakis, 21, of Canfield, was sentenced Thursday by Judge Maureen A. Cronin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. He pleaded guilty in March to one count of felonious assault.
Darkadakis, who is also a security guard at St. Elizabeth Health Center, pulled his 9mm handgun and fired two shots into the air after an on-street fight with 22-year-old Christopher Roscoe.
Police said the men engaged in a shouting match as they drove side-by-side down Market Street about 2:30 a.m. Dec. 30. Roscoe said he turned down a side street to get away and wound up at a dead end, with Darkadakis behind him.
When Roscoe got out of his car, Darkadakis pulled his gun, fired two shots and ordered Roscoe to get back into his car. When Roscoe turned to comply, Darkadakis hit him in back of the head and in the forehead with his gun.
Darkadakis had become an officer two days before the fight.
The ruling: Judge Cronin admonished Darkadakis for carrying a loaded weapon while off duty, and for approaching a Youngstown police officer who showed up to investigate.
The judge said Darkadakis should have known from his police training to stay in his car and wait for the officer to approach him.
"What happened that night on Market Street shows total disrespect for every police officer," Judge Cronin said. "There could very well have been two homicides that night."
She was referring to the fact that Roscoe could have been hit by one of Darkadakis' shots and that Darkadakis could then have been shot by the city policeman who pulled his own gun when Darkadakis continued walking toward him.
The officer did not fire because Darkadakis turned and went back to his car.
Darkadakis' lawyers, Michael Rich and Anthony Meranto, pleaded for probation, but the judge would not go along.
"If you have a gun and you shoot it, then in this court you go to prison. That's all I can say to you," she said.
She sentenced Darkadakis to four years in prison, then suspended all but 90 days and ordered him to serve the time in the county jail. She also ordered him to pay Roscoe $827 for medical treatment.
After his release from jail, Darkadakis will be on probation for three years.
Before sentencing, Campbell Police Chief Gus Sarigianopolous read a letter of support for Darkadakis, saying his conduct that night was "completely out of character for him."
bjackson@vindy.com