Police arrest 2 after separate chases

YOUNGSTOWN -- Two drivers were arrested on felony drug charges after separate police pursuits moments apart on the city's South Side.
Charles Skinner Jr., 24, of South Avenue was arrested at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday on charges of felony cocaine trafficking and felony fleeing and eluding.
Police said the arrest occurred at Inverness Avenue and Shirley Road after they recovered a small plastic bag containing about an ounce of cocaine, which they said he threw from the car he was driving. Skinner was also arrested on a secret indictment charging him with four counts of trafficking in drugs.
Police said they tried to stop Skinner at Gibson Street and Avondale Avenue, but Skinner drove recklessly at a high rate of speed, failed to stop at three stop signs, went left of center, and drove across a devil strip, almost striking a police car while fleeing.
In the other case, Cynthia M. Bartlone, 36, of Bessemer, Pa., was arrested at 3:34 p.m. on charges of crack cocaine abuse, a fifth-degree felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a fourth-degree misdemeanor, and traffic charges.
Police said they began following her as she drove a minivan at a high rate of speed south on Market Street near Princeton Avenue.
As police tried to catch up, she turned right onto Hylda Avenue without signaling her turn, continued west on Hylda at almost 60 mph, turned right onto Hillman Street without signaling the turn, and accelerated to about 50 mph while heading north on Hillman, police said.
She nearly ran the red light at Hillman Street and Indianola Avenue, police said, adding that they stopped her at Hillman Street and Princeton Avenue. Bartlone seemed fidgety, police said, adding that they found a rock of crack cocaine and a used glass crack pipe on the mini-van's front passenger seat.