Newton Twp. cop pleads guilty to speeding

By Ed Runyan

Investigators have not found the man who shot the officer.

CHARDON — The volunteer Newton Township police officer shot in his bulletproof vest Monday afternoon while on duty pleaded guilty to a modified charge of speeding in Chardon Municipal Court for a June 14 accident he had in a West Farmington police cruiser.

Meanwhile, the investigation into the shooting is ongoing, Sheriff Thomas Altiere said Friday. The man who shot officer Thomas J. Colosimo has not been found, Altiere said.

Colosimo, 35, of Newton Falls was charged by the Chardon Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol with failure to control for an accident on Old State Road, about four miles northwest of West Farmington, in Geauga County.

Colosimo told troopers he was on duty and driving a West Farmington cruiser to Middlefield to fill up with gasoline at about 3:15 a.m. when he drove the car off the road to avoid a collision with an oncoming vehicle that was in his lane.

It is not known whether Colosimo was working as a volunteer or paid officer for the department. Calls to West Farmington officials have not been returned.

Colosimo said he decided to swerve sharply to the left lane to avoid a collision, then swerved back into his own lane after the vehicle passed.

He was cited for failure to control, a minor misdemeanor.

In court Friday, he pleaded guilty to an amended charge of speeding for driving 60 mph in a 50 mph zone.

Speeding also is a minor misdemeanor offense. He paid a $1 fine and $91.50 in court costs. He received no points on his license, court officials said.

Colosimo did not return a call seeking comment on the speeding violation.

Sgt. Andrew Janu, assistant commander of the Chardon post, said the curve to the left where Colosimo had his accident is the site of many accidents.

Many people take the curve too fast, resulting in the car leaving the road and crashing, he said. The curve also slopes down.

Janu noted that the reaction of most drivers faced with an oncoming car in their lane is to swerve to the right to avoid a collision, not to the left.

“That doesn’t mean there wasn’t a car, but there was no physical evidence” there was, Janu said.

The drawing of the curve made by the trooper investigating the accident indicated that Colosimo’s car left the road on the left side just before hitting a guardrail near the bottom of the hill to the left.

The car then came to rest in a ditch on the right.

Colosimo was working for the Newton Township Police Department on May 12, when his cruiser was destroyed in a collision with a train on the tracks on Miller-Graber Road. He said he left the car on the tracks to chase copper thieves, who got away.

Trumbull County deputies went to the shooting scene Tuesday, a wooded area off Miller-Graber Road, looking for shell casings and other clues involving Colosimo’s shooting.

Two shell casings believed to be Colosimo’s have been found so far.

Colosimo told investigators he was on patrol around 3:30 p.m. and drove down a well road near the site of the train-cruiser crash when a man opened fire on him. Colosimo said he fired back twice.

runyan@vindy.com