YOUNGSTOWN Overweight truck spills

The officer's car was dented and the windshield cracked.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Gravel fell out of Leroy A. Stanley's bulging dump truck onto Interstate 680 and bounced off a city police officer's unmarked cruiser.
Stanley, 23, of South Canfield-Niles Road was issued a citation on I-80 at Shirley Road charging him with driving under suspension, shifting load and overweight load.
The 1997 Mack dump truck was allowed to weigh 51,500 pounds but weighed 76,540 pounds -- 25,040 pounds overweight, reports show.
The weigh slip indicates that he started out with a gross weight of 77,000 pounds, meaning he lost 460 pounds of gravel along the way.
Stanley pleaded innocent at arraignment this week in municipal court. His trial is set for Oct. 7.
What happened
Patrolman Terry Alexander said he entered the freeway at Midlothian Boulevard on Tuesday and pulled into the far right lane, headed northbound.
"He came up alongside me with an unsecured tailgate just pouring gravel out," Alexander said. "It peppered the whole front of car. The windshield has to be replaced."
The flying gravel put chips and two cracks in the unmarked cruiser's windshield and dents in the car, Alexander said.
"It's lucky we got him off the road before he did any real damage," the officer said. "The gravel was coming out of there like gang busters."
Patrolmen Morris Lee and Jimmy Rounds handled the accident, examined the damage to Alexander's 2002 Ford Crown Victoria and the condition of Stanley's dump truck. They found a large gap in the lower portion of the truck's tailgate, which allowed the gravel to spill out.
The load was uncovered and the tires were bulging from the weight, reports show. The truck was towed and later turned over to a valid driver after the excess gravel was unloaded, police said.
"How many citizens does that happen to? You get pelted with stones and it's hard to prove," Detective Sgt. Patricia Garcar, a member of the accident investigation unit, said of Alexander's experience. "You hear something ping on your car -- how do you prove it came out of the truck [near you] and not off the ground?"
Crackdown
Police have been cracking down on overweight trucks traveling through the city. The Ohio State Highway Patrol loans troopers portable scales.
The city also has a stationary platform scale at Bob O's Towing on Logan Avenue available to determine the gross weight of vehicles.
The portable scales are used under truck wheels to calculate the weight on each axle. The law defines weight by axle, the load carried on each tire.
A month ago, The Vindicator reported that eight local truckers -- from Youngstown, Struthers, Hubbard, Warren, Vienna and Columbiana -- received citations on the same day for overweight loads. A check this week revealed that most have settled their cases in municipal court.
Heavy loads not only ruin roads and bridges but put too much weight on brakes, Lt. Mark Milstead, head of the traffic division, has said. Heavy loads, he said, are a safety issue.
Milstead said the following penalties apply:
U1 to 2,000 pounds overweight, $80 fine.
U2,001 to 5,000 pounds overweight, $100 fine plus $1 for every 100 extra pounds.
U5,001 to 10,000 pounds overweight, up to 30 days in jail, $130 fine plus $2 for every 100 extra pounds.
U10,000 or more pounds overweight, up to 30 days in jail, $160 fine plus $3 for every 100 extra pounds.
If convicted of having an overweight truck, Stanley faces up to 30 days in jail and $911 fine.
meade@vindy.com