Saturday, January 27, 2007
RAVENNA (AP) — The parents of a young woman shot and killed during a 2005 hostage ordeal at her apartment have filed a $150 million civil suit against Portage County and others.
The suit says Sarah Positano, 22, a student at Kent State University, was shot to death by James Trimble, who had already killed his girlfriend and her son when he became agitated by a police officer who was sent into the apartment to try to kill him.
Brimfield Township Police Chief David Blough has denied any sniper attempted to enter the residence during the standoff.
The suit was filed Jan. 19 in Portage County Common Pleas Court by Positano’s parents, Susan and A. James Positano of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. It asked for $50 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages.
Trimble, 46, who is on death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, was arrested 8 1/2 hours after the Positano slaying by a team of law enforcement officers who converged on Positano’s apartment Jan. 21, 2005.
Trimble shot and killed his girlfriend, Renee Bauer, 42, and her 7-year-old son, Dakota, in a bedroom of a home they shared. Trimble then fled into the woods nearby and confronted other Brimfield residents before taking Positano hostage at her apartment.
Prosecutors said Trimble killed the three in a rampage that began because Bauer threatened to leave him.