GIRARD Judge dismisses chief's felony charge

An assault charge against the police chief will be heard later.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- A visiting judge has dismissed a felony charge filed against Police Chief Anthony Ross for lack of evidence.
Judge Perry G. Dickinson found Wednesday that there wasn't enough probable cause to have Ross bound over to a Trumbull County grand jury on a charge of intimidation.
Ross still has a misdemeanor assault charge pending against him. Judge Dickinson said it will be heard in September.
Judge Dickinson, who is retired from Portage County Municipal Court, was the same judge before whom Ross pleaded no contest and was found guilty of driving under the influence in 1999.
The judge ruled after an afternoon-long preliminary hearing that Robert E. Suich, owner of the South State Street Dairy Queen, was not intimidated Feb. 24 by the chief when they confronted each other.
In his ruling, Judge Dickinson said that Suich was not prevented from calling police to report the confrontation and Ross didn't inhibit his officers from taking a police report.
Business owner's testimony
Suich, 34, testified during questioning by court prosecutor Robert Johnson that he looked out the back of his business and saw two cars parked beside each other. A man was standing outside, talking to a woman in one of the cars.
He suggested to the man, David McGeary of Austintown who was talking to his wife, Lisa, that he leave because the chief was watching them from a nearby gas station.
Suich told the court that he was walking back into the Dairy Queen when he was struck in the back of the legs by the chief's car. He fell back onto the hood and supported himself with an arm.
After standing up, he asked Ross, "What are you doing? You can't hit people with your car."
Suich testified that after being struck in the knees a second time by the Ross car, he said, "That's it. I'm calling the police."
"I know you. I'll get you," Suich said the chief told him.
At one point, Suich testified that he asked Ross if he could take him to drink a beer. During cross-examination by defense lawyer J. Gerald Ingram, Suich admitted he was referring to Ross' previous DUI conviction.
During closing arguments, Ingram told the court that Ross was acting responsibly when he stopped to ask if Lisa McGeary was OK.
McGeary had stopped his wife's car because he believed she was driving too fast for slippery road conditions.
Husband supports chief
McGeary testified that because of the animation with his arms while talking with his wife, he believed it was reasonable for a police officer to ask questions.
Ingram argued that only one witness, Ron Croysdale of Akron, saw Suich struck once.
During cross-examination, Croysdale testified that Ross, while both were in their cars in the parking lot, asked him if he was OK.
Croysdale, a McGeary co-worker, testified that the Ross car was coasting before it struck Suich and that he and Ross were looking at each other -- not at Suich.
Johnson had argued that Ross made the threat toward Suich to intimidate him into calling police after being struck.
yovich@vindy.com