Man charged after shootout with police

YOUNGSTOWN -- A 25-year-old city man is in jail on two counts of felonious assault on a police officer after he fired about four shots from a .38-caliber pistol at a city police officer and a Mahoning County deputy sheriff, city police said.
City police said the officers and the suspect, of Franklin Avenue, exchanged gunfire on the city's South Side at 10:50 a.m. Monday. No one was hurt when up to 11 rounds were fired, a Mahoning County Sheriff's Department official said, but an unmarked cruiser and another vehicle were damaged.
Maj. Michael Budd said the situation began when Sgt. John Beshara, 34, from the sheriff's department, and Patrolman Michael R. Cox, 26, of the Youngstown Police Department, were on Miller Avenue near South Avenue conducting an investigation for the Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force.
When they approached the man to question him, he fired at the officers from the sport utility vehicle he was driving. The officers were in a car about 15 feet away. They returned fire.
The man then fled the scene and was arrested at Woodland Avenue and Market Street after a chase that involved several cruisers. Police recovered a .38-caliber pistol in a wooded area near the arrest scene. An unmarked sheriff's department car was hit by bullets as was the man's vehicle.