NEW YEAR'S EVE Family faces charges in party assault

The father, a police officer, was fired for his involvement in the case.
STRUTHERS -- Arrest warrants stemming from a raucous New Year's Eve party that resulted in the beatings of two men were issued Thursday against a former Struthers police officer, his wife and two of his sons.
Xavier Young, 38, 549 Fifth St., a former Struthers police officer who lost his job over the situation, was charged with two counts of assault, 17 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and furnishing alcohol to a minor, and one count of dereliction of duty.
His wife, Sandra Young, 33, was charged with 17 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and furnishing alcohol to a minor, and one count of falsifying a police report.
Darnell Young, 21, and Andre Young, 20, both of 421 Clermont, Youngstown, were charged with complicity in a felonious assault.
"We are allowing them the opportunity to come in on their own for booking," Struthers Safety Director John Sveda said. "If they choose not to do so, we will have to go out and arrest them."
The four were due to appear in Struthers Municipal Court today to answer to the charges before Judge James Lanzo.
The charges against Xavier Young resulted from an investigation conducted by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, Sveda said. The charges against Young's wife and son stem from a separate investigation by the Struthers Police Department, he said.
Police said Young incited the gang-beating of two men who showed up at his New Year's Eve party about 2 a.m. Jan. 1.
The victims
Jason Scott, 26, a Struthers native now living in Marine City, Mich., and his brother Shawn Scott, 37, of New Springfield, were found lying on the ground unconscious by officers, who responded to reports of a fight.
The two men had gone to Young's home to pick up the teenage daughter of Shawn Scott's girlfriend, who lived nearby. Police said an argument ensued, and Young instigated an attack by a dozen or more partygoers. Young began choking Jason Scott, and when Shawn Scott tried to pull Young off his brother, the two men were attacked and beaten for several minutes, according to police reports.
Shawn Scott was hospitalized for several days for treatment of a head injury suffered in the attack.
Sandra Young told investigators the next day that the situation began when one of the brothers pushed her. She insisted her husband was not at fault.
Young, who had been a Struthers police officer since 1999, was placed on administrative leave after the attacks.
He was fired Jan. 18 after a departmental hearing. At that hearing, he was accused of a broad range of departmental infractions that included allowing a number of teenagers to consume alcohol at the party at his home, beating the two victims and allowing others to beat them.
Young declined to testify on his own behalf at that hearing, on the advice of his Fraternal Order of Police representative, Chuck Wilson.