Case against former coach going to trial

The outside camera near the attendance office was not working that day.

By PATRICIA MEADE

VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — A motion to dismiss charges against a former Chaney High School cheerleading coach has been denied, and the case is proceeding to jury trial.

Angela J. Jones, 39, of East Ravenwood Avenue was arrested at the school Oct. 4, 2007, after police used pepper spray to disperse a crowd of 400 students who were starting to fight. She was charged with felonious assault on a police officer and misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, obstructing official business, failure to disperse and misconduct at an emergency.

Jones, who is not a teacher, had been a volunteer freshman cheerleading coach. That arrangement ended the day she was arrested.

The felony charge was dismissed after Patrolman Dave Wilson was unable to identify Jones during a preliminary hearing, according to Vindicator files. The officer said his back was to the door when it hit him and he did not exactly see who pushed the door. Jones, though, was the only person near the door when he looked up and had been identified to him by other officers.

Jones is accused of arguing with police who were trying to disperse the crowd and telling students to not respond to officers’ commands.

Jones’ defense attorney, Edward J. Hartwig, in his motion to dismiss the misdemeanor charges, contended that the state failed to preserve a videotape from the high school on that day. He requested an evidentiary hearing, and it was scheduled for Tuesday in municipal court.

No videotape existed of the event and if one had, it was in possession of the high school, not the prosecutor’s office, Bret Hartup, an assistant city prosecutor, said in his response to Hartwig’s motion to dismiss. He said the school was not given Hartwig’s request to preserve evidence, signed in October by Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly.

The judge, after hearing testimony from three witnesses Tuesday, denied Hartwig’s motion. She said nothing was presented to show that the prosecutor knew about the videotapes and it was up to Hartwig to provide the school with a copy of her order to preserve evidence.

“I don’t see where the state did anything wrong,” she said. The case is now set for jury trial on April 1.

Patrolman Rick Baldwin testified that he talked to Jones near the sidewalk on the Overlook Avenue side of the high school and told her to leave the area — and she didn’t. He said she was arrested by the doorway near the attendance office, where Wilson said he was hit. Baldwin wasn’t aware if a camera was in place.

Ted Terlesky, chief of security for the school district, testified that Chaney has about 44 cameras for the safety and security of students and staff. He said he learned from the principal at the time that the camera outside the door near the attendance office was not operating Oct. 4, 2007, so there was no video to review what happened.

Harry Evans, chief of maintenance and operations for the school district, testified that the outside camera malfunctioned because of a computer glitch and has since been repaired. Anything that would have been recorded on a camera inside the doors near the attendance office has since been recorded over, he said.

Camera recordings at the school are preserved 30 days and then are reused, Evans said.

meade@vindy.com