YOUNGSTOWN Neglect puts city cop off the job for 3 days

A department spokesman said the officer has no other record of discipline.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A police officer who failed to find a car running behind the Royal Oaks bar -- where a man died of carbon monoxide poisoning -- has agreed to a three-day suspension.
An investigation by the Youngstown Police Department's Internal Affairs Division concluded that Patrolman Brent Gaitanis violated two departmental rules, Lt. Robin Lees, YPD spokesman, said Monday.
The investigation found violations of the contract that address neglect of duty and incompetence, Lees said. Gaitanis, 30, is a three-year veteran. He loses roughly $450 for the three days off.
A preliminary report shows that Steven E. Mulichak, 36, of East Boston Avenue died Sept. 21 of acute carbon monoxide poisoning, Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, Trumbull County forensic pathologist, has said. Mulichak's body went to Forum Health Northside Medical Center, which meant the autopsy was done by the Trumbull County coroner's office.
What was found
Lees said the IAD investigation found that Mulichak left the tavern at 924 Oak St. on the city's East Side when it closed, about 2:40 a.m., and remained in the lot with his car, an early 1970s green Ford LTD, running. The first 911 call came at 5:04 a.m. and, "for whatever reason, Gaitanis didn't report seeing that vehicle," Lees said.
Lees said that what happened was unfortunate and that Gaitanis does a good job and this is his first discipline.
Gaitanis, who had taken a report of a stolen green Jeep on his shift, was looking for the Jeep and said he did not see the car running, Lees said. "We know from radio traffic he expected to find a stolen car, and combined with fatigue at the end of his shift, that could account for his not finding the car," Lees said.
Lees said it's not uncommon for car thieves to abandon stolen cars while they're running.
Audiotapes
The Vindicator obtained copies of the 911 and police dispatcher's audiotapes for the Sept. 21 call.
A woman dialed 911 at 5:04 a.m. to report that a car had been running behind the Royal Oaks "for an hour or so."
At 5:16 a.m., Gaitanis was sent to the bar. At 5:19 a.m., the officer arrived and reported a code 91 to the radio dispatcher, meaning the call was unfounded. His shifted ended at 6 a.m.
At 6:29 a.m., the same woman called 911 again. "This car is still sitting back here running, and I don't think the police came yet," she said.
At 6:48, Patrolman Michael Walker arrived at the bar and found the Ford running, with Mulichak sitting in it, and told the radio dispatcher to send an ambulance.
Walker can be heard saying: "I can't wake him up. I have a nonbreather -- send me a supervisor."
The radio dispatcher told Walker that a cruiser had been sent after the first call and "they cleared it 91, said there were no cars in the parking lot."
Dr. Germaniuk has said that a test of Mulichak's car showed it reached a lethal carbon monoxide level in two minutes.
"The higher the level, the shorter time to die," he said.
Faulty exhaust
He said Mulichak's car has a muffler that's split on the driver's side, has numerous perforations in the exhaust system, and is noisy and smoky.
Toxicology reports on Mulichak will not be ready for a few weeks, Dr. Germaniuk has said.
meade@vindy.com