WARREN Woman protests officer's touching

By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A 24-year-old woman says a police officer improperly touched her during a traffic stop.
She is coming forward as city administrators wait to find out, in a separate case, if the police chief plans to discipline two officers who did a body cavity search on a man arrested on a driving charge.
City officials said they have received other complaints of people who also say they were improperly strip-searched when arrested by police.
Woman's complaint
Tasha Jackson, 24, of Haymaker Street said Tuesday she was improperly touched by officer Greg Hoso. He stopped her car March 5 because the rear license tag was not visible, according to police reports.
Hoso could not be reached to comment.
Hoso reported that as Jackson got out of the vehicle he noticed a large bulge in her front waist area. After questioning, Jackson told police it was marijuana and handed them two sandwich bags containing suspected marijuana.
Jackson also told police a gun in the vehicle was hers.
According to reports, Jackson said Hoso made her get out of the car and he put his hands under her shirt so he could feel the pockets of her pants. She said he also put his hands on her upper thigh.
Morris Hill, a former city police detective and now an investigator with the Ohio Public Defender's Commission, said he saw the search.
"I was in my car and I saw the whole thing from across the street," Hill said. "I worked as a cop for 30 years and male officers should not be touching females like he did. I'm meeting with officials at the police department tomorrow to tell them what I saw."
Went to station
Jackson said she was taken to the police station where a female officer performed another search.
"I was put in another room with a female cop and she put her hands under my shirt and felt my bra," Jackson said. "When she was done, they let me go."
"They never charged me with anything," Jackson noted.
Police said the suspected marijuana was sent to the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation lab for testing. Test results take four to six weeks, officials say. Detectives were not sure Tuesday if the results on Jackson's case were returned.
Officials would not explain Tuesday why Jackson has not been charged.
Mayor Hank Angelo and Fred Harris, safety-service director, were to meet with Police Chief John Mandopoulos today to find out if he plans to discipline officers Tim Parana and Robert Trimble.
An internal investigation, completed in April, found that Parana and Trimble violated state law and departmental policy when they searched Dominic Gambone, 25, in February 2002.
The chief exonerated the officers, but Harris overruled that and ordered Mandopoulos to review the complaint.
The chief could not be reached.
sinkovich@vindy.com