Police dog aids in capture

Helo tracked the suspect over hill and dale.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — Jamal D. Wingo surrendered to police with a shout from the woods: “I give up. Please don’t send the dog!”

The arrest — after what began as a routine traffic stop around 12:15 a.m. Tuesday — took place in a wooded area near Southern Tavern on Glenwood Avenue. Wingo, 20, of Glenwood Avenue is charged with driving under suspension and fleeing and eluding.

He was also served with a probation violation warrant out of Mahoning County Area Court in Boardman issued this month in a 2003 theft case.

He was expected to be arraigned today in municipal court. He must also appear in Boardman court this week.

Pursuit of Wingo began when Patrolman P.J. Chance spotted a 1997 Ford traveling north on Glenwood with only one working headlight. Instead of responding to the cruiser’s overhead lights and siren, the Ford driver sped up and turned right onto Delason Avenue. The driver jumped out and ran through rear yards toward Willis Avenue.

Chance pursued the driver on foot but lost sight of him behind 640 Willis.

Patrolman Josh Kelly and his K-9 Unit partner, Helo, arrived. Helo started tracking northbound from where the driver, later identified as Wingo, had last been seen, across Willis and into the rear yards of Chalmers Avenue. Helo found Wingo’s discarded T-shirt near a fence and picked up the track again near the rear door of 1627 Glenwood, a vacant house.

The dog searched the house but no one was inside.

A noise, though, was heard in the woods near Cleveland Street, and Helo went that way. Kelly gave warnings that the dog was in the area but got no response.

Helo then entered the woods and picked up the suspect’s track. That’s when Kelly heard a male voice cry out he was giving up and don’t send the dog.

Officers found Wingo, shirtless, standing just in front of Helo. Wingo was ordered to walk backward with his hands up, and he did — with Helo providing an escort.

Helo’s activities are detailed in a “canine apprehension report.”

Wingo, when asked why he ran, mentioned the warrant out for his arrest. He told police he was driving a car loaned to him by a Columbiana man.