YOUNGSTOWN Records don't back up complaints in letter

By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A suburban woman's gripes that Youngstown police aren't around when you need them -- made after she got a parking ticket at a death scene -- don't jibe with available records.
The Vindicator checked out the complaints Deborah Lund of Canfield made in a letter to the editor published Sept. 29.
"I would think that there is really something more important to do than writing a ticket at a death scene," Lund wrote. "If this is Youngstown's finest at work, no wonder there are so many crimes that never get answered."
Lund said she received the ticket Sept. 9 near her mother's house on Hilton Avenue, where she rushed after receiving a call that her mother had died. She said that, without thinking, she parked against traffic because the driveway was full.
"My mother had her car stolen three times from that same driveway and the last time, my brother [Daniel Mills] followed the thieves to the East Side and found the car himself," Lund's letter states. "Still, no Youngstown police."
Lund, reached at home, couldn't recall years or other facts for the stolen cars she wrote about. She said her knowledge of the events came from conversations with her mother or brother Daniel, both deceased.
What police records show
The police department record room provided The Vindicator a computer printout of police calls for the past 12 years on Hilton Avenue. Aside from a 1992 auto theft, no other stolen-car call could be found for Lund's mother's address for those years.
On Jan. 17, 1992, police found an abandoned car on Powersway owned by Lund's brother Kim Mills, then of Leetonia. The car, which was recovered within hours of being taken, was towed for safekeeping, records show.
The next day, Lund's mother went to the police station downtown to provide information for the stolen/recovered car report.
She told police her son was out of town and she had left the car warming up in the driveway and then discovered it missing.
Lt. Robin Lees, public information officer, said it's possible the car found by Daniel Mills wasn't reported stolen. Sometimes when owners find their cars, they don't see the need to make a report.
"There's so many variables. We can't resolve it without the people here to say what happened," Lees said.
He added that Lund has no personal knowledge of the cars she wrote about and is angry over getting a parking ticket. People caught up in personal situations tend to lash out, he said, adding, "As public servants, we learn to live with it."
Lund said maybe she should have confined her criticism in her letter to the parking ticket and her opinion that she never sees police on Hilton.
Lund's letter said the officer who gave her the ticket was rude and should be ashamed of his cold behavior. The officer, Lund said, continued to write the ticket even after she explained the death.
What officer said
Patrolman Dan Mikus gave another version of what happened.
The officer said if there had been a lot of cars and commotion near the house on Hilton, he would have checked to see if something was wrong before writing the ticket. There weren't a lot of cars on the street and only one car was parked against traffic, he said.
Mikus said he wrote the ticket, placed it on the van's windshield and was prepared to leave when a woman came at him, screaming.
"She wasn't pleasant," he said. "She was nasty."
Mikus said he told the woman he was sorry about the death then explained that, once a ticket is written, it cannot be voided. He gave her the options: Take the ticket to the police station, pay the $10, or contest it in court.
Denise Warren, parking ticket department supervisor, said Lund made a complaint about the ticket Sept. 9. Challenged tickets are sent to the police department for review and then a recommendation is made to the court, Warren said.
Lees described Mikus as conscientious, professional and thorough. Lund, he said, began her encounter with Mikus in a hostile manner and the officer had to disengage and go about his business.
Lund may have interpreted "businesslike" as rude and cold, Lees said.
Other details
The Canfield woman says she assumed the writing the officer was doing when she approached was her ticket. She said she went in the house to get her keys and, when she came back out, he handed her the ticket.
Mikus said he had been filling out an activity report he keeps.
Lund, in her letter, said she visited her mother on Hilton daily since Feb. 26, and watched cars racing and motorcycles zooming up and down "and I've never seen an officer."
Mikus said he could guarantee that, during his shift, no cars are speeding.
Lees found Lund's generalizations of police and crime in the city unfair.
The lieutenant questioned whether the speeding cars were reported. "If you don't alert the police, what can we do about it?"
Lees said the vice squad has had no reports of drug activity in the 300 block of Hilton for the past two years.