YOUNGSTOWN Boles talks about assault

The councilman said the young men chose the street over snowy sidewalks.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Councilman Clarence Boles regrets that he didn't use his cell phone to photograph the man accused of shooting at him.
"I started to take out my new cell phone to take his picture but just didn't," Boles said today. "Wouldn't that have been great?"
Boles, D-6th, said maybe the Saturday morning shooting on the South Side was a form of road rage. Police found four 9 mm casings in front of 27 W. LaClede.
Bernard C. Barnes Jr., 22, was arrested at his home at 137 W. LaClede around 10:40 a.m. Saturday on a charge of felonious assault in connection with the shooting. Barnes, who also has a Columbus address, was due in municipal court today for arraignment.
Boles said he was driving east on LaClede at 9:25 a.m., headed to a restaurant on Market Street for a breakfast meeting with constituents, when he encountered two young men in the middle of the road. He said the sidewalks hadn't been shoveled and were covered with heavy snow.
"I blew my horn and the young man to my left yielded but the young man on my right passenger side did not acknowledge my presence," Boles said. "I said, 'Hey, little brother, could you hug the curb for your own safety?'"
Boles said the man's response was the f-word "and I said, 'Why did you have to go there?'"
Shots were fired
Boles said as he drove off, he saw in his rearview mirror the man in the road firing a gun. The councilman said the shots missed him and his car.
Boles said he got to Market Street and then turned around and pursued the shooter, who ran to a house on LaClede. Boles called 911 and then waited for police, who followed footprints in the snow to 137 W. LaClede.
Barnes was found in the house and identified by Boles.
"He said he'd been in bed all morning, gave the usual knucklehead banter," Boles said. "He went for the drama, had changed his clothes and was standing there in his underwear."
Boles said police found Barnes' wet shoes, and the pattern on the soles matched the footprints in the snow.
Boles said he waited until he got home to tell his wife that someone shot at him. The councilman said if he'd been hit, it would have been just outside his wife's office window in the Anthem building at the corner of Market Street and LaClede.
"This is unfortunate, but at 54 years old, I've been hearing gunfire since I was 11," Boles said. "I wasn't afraid -- I'm not trying to play macho man. We live in area where gunshots ... [are] not unusual."
Boles said he doesn't know Barnes but does know some of Barnes' family.
meade@vindy.com