Car of homicide victim

Car of homicide victim
YOUNGSTOWN -- Police found the stolen car of a 29-year-old homicide victim at the Salt Springs Road exit of Interstate 680.
Police received a telephone call about 1:30 a.m. Saturday from a woman who said she saw a car on fire, and a man running from it into a white van.
Robert Smith of Elliot Lane in Youngstown was gunned down Thursday evening outside Club 541, a bar on North Garland Avenue. Police say Smith might have been shot when he interrupted an auto theft. Police said damage was done to the steering columns of three other cars in the bar's parking lot.
Someone stole Smith's 1997 Cadillac Catera, which was destroyed in Saturday's fire.
Suit over lion cub
YOUNGSTOWN -- The trial in the lawsuit over the ownership of Boomerang, the lion cub, will resume at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
It had been scheduled to resume this morning, but the attorney for the defendants asked for the delay because he was delayed in New York City by bad weather.
Magistrate Eugene Fehr of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court granted the delay this morning, saying he didn't want to hurt the defendants, Douglas and Ellen Whitehouse, who own and operate Noah's Lost Ark, a shelter for exotic animals in Berlin Township. They say they own Boomerang, and William Long of Upper Arlington, a Columbus suburb, says he owns the cub. Long filed the suit.
Man beaten, robbed
AUSTINTOWN -- Police said two men, one with a shotgun, robbed a South Raccoon Road man in his apartment.
The apartment resident told police that one of the robbers knocked at his door at about 10:20 a.m. Saturday and said he was an employee of the apartment complex. The robber was wearing a blue uniform shirt and a work belt and carrying a garbage bag, reports state.
When the victim opened the door, a second robber, who had been standing out of sight, punched him several times, knocking him to the floor. The first robber then pulled a shotgun from the garbage bag, pointed it at the victim and demanded money.
The robbers ripped the phone from the wall before fleeing with about $300 and the victim's cell phone, according to reports.
Truck driver arrested
CANFIELD -- Police arrested a New Jersey man who they said was driving a tractor-trailer while drunk.
Alexander Perez, 23, of Hudson, N.J., is charged with failing to stay within marked lanes and driving under the influence. Police said Perez's blood-alcohol level was 0.16, twice the legal limit in Ohio.
Reports state that about 10:30 p.m., police received a call about a tractor-trailer driving erratically on North Broad Street. Officers said they followed Perez as he drove the truck over the double yellow line several times. Reports state that Perez stopped on North Broad Street in front of IGA, and that he later failed field sobriety tests and was arrested.
A passenger in the semi, Duane Ashford, 40, of Norwood Avenue, Youngstown, also was arrested and charged with drug abuse and possession of drug paraphernalia. Police said they searched Ashford and found a bottle of pills not prescribed to him, as well as suspected cocaine. Police also said they found a suspected crack pipe in Ashford's jacket.
Two other passengers in the truck were released by police.