EAST LIVERPOOL Officer faces several charges

A special prosecutor was appointed after the prosecutor's office excused itself.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- An East Liverpool police officer is accused of tampering with evidence and other crimes.
A Columbiana County grand jury recently handed up a secret indictment against Patrolman Martin Ward, 34.
Ward was arrested Tuesday and remained in the county jail this morning. He is to be arraigned Aug. 21 in county common pleas court.
Tampering with evidence is a third-degree felony bearing a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Ward also is charged with obstructing justice, a first-degree misdemeanor that carries a maximum six-month jail term and a $1,000 fine.
He also is charged with criminal mischief, a third-degree misdemeanor that has a maximum 60-day sentence and a $500 fine.
Atty. William McGinnis of Canton was appointed special prosecutor in the case after the county prosecutor's office excused itself from it.
Accusation
McGinnis said today that the tampering with evidence and obstructing justice charges arise from allegations that Ward threw away a bullet and casing stemming from a Nov. 10 episode.
Authorities say that on that date, Ward was in a vehicle in the city with Nicole Amato, 30, of East Liverpool, and her 2-year-old daughter.
During that time, Ward said a handgun belonging to him accidentally went off. No one was injured.
Amato is charged separately with child endangering because authorities allege she mishandled the firearm and had been drinking.
Ward has told authorities he was off-duty and that the handgun involved was not his police-issued firearm, McGinnis said.
The loss of the bullet and casing prevents authorities from verifying Ward's account, McGinnis added.
Ward also is accused of urging others to make false statements in the probe regarding the matter, McGinnis said without elaborating.
Mischief charge
The criminal mischief charge stems from an accusation that Ward broke liquor bottles in the driveway of a Lisbon Avenue residence in East Liverpool on April 8 or 9.
Ward is on unpaid suspension from the department, McGinnis said.
He was suspended because a stalking protection order obtained by Nicole's estranged husband, Atty. Chris Amato of Wellsville, prevents Ward from carrying a firearm.