Police probe cases of men being beaten

By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — Police are investigating separate cases of men being beaten with the butt of a gun.

In the first incident, police are looking for three men believed to have beaten Elton Daniels, 53, of Dewey Street, in the head with a pistol Saturday afternoon on the city’s North Side, before running off with $100 cash.

Officers said Daniels was visiting his girlfriend, who is staying in the YWCA building on Rayen Avenue.

According to officers at the scene, Daniels was sitting on the steps of an apartment building on Phelps Street across from the YWCA when three men approached him and demanded his money. Officers said that when Daniels refused, one of the attackers took out a gun and began beating him in the head with the weapon.

Police said the gun discharged while the attacker was striking Daniels. No one was shot, however.

The men ran to a car parked close by and drove off after taking the victim’s money.

A woman staying at the YWCA told police she had returned from a nearby store and saw Daniels sitting on the steps. The woman said she heard screaming minutes later and saw the victim with blood coming from his head, but she did not hear any gunfire.

Daniels could be seen shortly after the incident walking and talking to police. There was a bandage on his head and visible blood streaks on his face and clothing. He was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center by ambulance.

Police officers searched the apartment building, trying to determine if one of the men had been hiding inside.

A short time later officers were sent to a home in the 100 block of Thornton Avenue, also on the North Side, for a second beating with a gun.

According to police reports, Tyrone Taylor, 48, of Fairgreen Avenue told officers he had been sitting in the backyard of his mother’s home when a man he knows only as “Puffy” came into the yard and hit him in the head with the butt of a gun. Police noted a scratch and bump on Taylor’s head and said he went to a hospital.

No arrests were made in either attack.

jgoodwin@vindy.com