Police dog is top cop at scene of break-in

The suspect failed to report to jail to serve 157 days and was wanted on a warrant.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — A Campbell man used a sledgehammer to break into an East Side store, hid inside a cooler to avoid capture and kicked the police dog that found him, police say.

The suspect, Bennie Lewis Jr., 50, of Palmer Avenue, was arraigned Monday in municipal court on charges of breaking and entering, assault on a police dog, possession of criminal tools, criminal damaging and resisting arrest. Judge Robert A. Douglas Jr. set bond at $13,000 and preliminary and pretrial hearings for May 12.

First officers on the scene discovered the break-in at the Oak Street Market, 1804 Oak St., around 2:15 a.m. Sunday. A 911 caller had reported seeing a man with a sledgehammer crawl through a hole he made in a wall.

More officers were sent to the store, including Patrolman Josh Kelly and his dog, Helo.

Kelly shouted through the hole in the wall that the dog would be sent in if the person inside didn’t make himself known.

After the warning was given three times, the dog was sent in and ordered to bark while Kelly again told whoever was inside to give up. The dog then searched the building and sat down by a small meat cooler and barked, indicating he’d found someone.

When the suspect, later identified as Lewis, refused to come out, Kelly opened the cooler door and the dog stuck his head inside, only to have it kicked by Lewis, reports show.

“The dog apprehended the suspect by biting and holding the suspect’s right lower leg,” Kelly wrote in his report.

Lewis continued to kick the dog and refused to get out of the cooler, police said.

The dog then dragged the suspect halfway out of the cooler by clamping onto the Lewis’ right leg. When the pants ripped, The dog lost his grip and got kicked in the head again, police said.

The dog next bit Lewis’ right thigh until told to release it. After being handcuffed, Lewis was treated for superficial bite wounds at St. Elizabeth Health Center before being taken to the Mahoning County jail.

Mahoning County court records show Lewis, who had pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine, was supposed to report to the jail April 1 to serve 157 days. A warrant was issued by a common pleas judge when he failed to show.

Lewis’ extensive criminal history in common pleas court dates to 1992. The multiple convictions include drug offenses, breaking and entering, receiving stolen property and possession of criminal tools.