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Cop who Tasered woman faces multiple charges
A disciplinary hearing is set for Friday afternoon.
WARREN — Among the laundry list of charges Patrolman Richard Kovach faces for repeatedly using a Taser on an intoxicated woman is inhumane treatment.
Kovach, 40, was placed on administrative leave about three weeks after a police dashcam videotape of the Sept. 2 arrest of 38-year-old Heidi Gill of Howland outside Up The Creek, a Warren bar on East Market Street, was reviewed.
In a letter to Kovach dated Oct. 31 and obtained by The Vindicator on Saturday, Chief John M. Mandopoulos lists the results of an Internal Affairs Unit investigation and the charges Kovach now faces.
The summary of violations range from police ethics, rules of conduct and use of force to protection of prisoners, falsifying a report and more.
Under the protection of prisoners, their rights and property, the chief cited three infractions:
• An officer shall protect the rights of any prison held in custody and no officer shall verbally abuse or use any unnecessary force against any person.
• No officer shall willfully mistreat or give inhumane treatment to any person held in custody.
• Officers shall use only such force as is necessary in effecting the arrest.
No phone listing could be found for Kovach.
Mandopoulos said in the letter that a complete copy of the investigative file would be delivered to Kovach. Also, a disciplinary hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday.
W. Douglas Franklin, safety services director, said Saturday that he has to review the entire report before commenting.
Gill was arrested Sept. 2 on charges off falsification, assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
Gill’s alcohol level was above the legal limit, Law Director Greg Hicks has said.
During a hearing last month in municipal court, the assault charge, a felony, was dismissed at the request of the city prosecutor, who said Kovach is not available to testify.
Gill is scheduled for trial in January on the remaining misdemeanor charges.
Gill’s Youngstown lawyer, Mark Hanni, said after the hearing that he is preparing a federal civil rights lawsuit against Kovach, the city and its police department. The lawyer called what Kovach did a “pattern of cruelty and sadistic conduct.”
Hicks has said that Kovach used the Taser on Gill three times. But others who viewed the videotape of the event believe she may have been hit with electric current as many as seven times.
The videotape made its way to national news.
In an unrelated case, Kovach was suspended for 10 days last month without pay for violating the rights of a man during a traffic stop on Aug. 23. Kovach has appealed the suspension.
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