Suit accuses officer of ignoring man

The plaintiff is seeking more than $25,000 in compensation.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A city man has filed a lawsuit alleging a police officer failed to help him after he was shot in the chest.
Matthew A. Burroughs, and his wife, Jamie, of Draper Avenue S.E., filed the lawsuit Thursday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. The suit names as defendants the city and Patrol Officer Michael A. Albanese.
Law Director Greg Hicks said he has not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.
The lawsuit says around 2:30 a.m. March 18, Burroughs was shot in the chest while riding in his friend's car. The shooting took place near the intersection of U.S. Route 422 and Central Parkway.
Moments after the shooting, Burroughs and his friend went to a nearby bar and told Albanese what took place.
Witnesses said the officer told them to take Burroughs to the hospital and fill out a report there, the lawsuit states.
Suit details
"As a direct and proximate result of the actions of defendants, Burroughs suffered physical and emotional pain and suffering and other injuries," the suit states.
The suit is seeking more than $25,000 in damages.
A police department internal affairs investigation done last month by Lt. Thomas Skoczylas states that, after reviewing all the statements regarding the event, he finds the only policy that Albanese violated was not having his mobile video recorder turned on.
Albanese told internal affairs officers that he was never told the man had been shot. He said a woman told him that a man was hurt. Albanese said when he asked the man if he was hurt the man didn't answer.
Skoczylas states in the report that he feels Burroughs and his friend were involved in some other activity that went wrong. He also noted in his report that the accuracy of Burroughs' statement may have been affected because of the chest trauma and that he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.14, which is above the legal limit of 0.08.
sinkovich@vindy.com