Mayor’s cousin faces charge

The felony charge stems from his reportedly spitting blood-filled saliva at a police officer.

staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — Joseph Melfi, 36, of Morris Avenue, Girard, a cousin of Girard Mayor James Melfi, was indicted Thursday by a Mahoning County grand jury on a felony charge of harassment with a bodily substance.

The charge stems from a confrontation between Melfi and police outside the Chevrolet Centre on Feb. 21 — the night of the Kelly Pavlik fight.

After Melfi, who said he had a $250 fight ticket, was barred from entering the arena because he was believed to be intoxicated, Melfi reportedly became agitated, and police were called.

Several Youngstown police officers responded, and reports said they pleaded with Melfi for 10 minutes to leave the premises, which Melfi refused to do, and even met with resistance when they offered to call him a cab. Melfi screamed expletives at the officers and invoked his relationship to the Girard mayor, police said.

Eventually, Melfi began to walk away, but he started throwing personal papers, a cell phone and money, then fell to the pavement, injuring his face as he tried to retrieve those items, police said.

Melfi was then arrested by Youngstown Patrolman Francis Bigowsky, son of former Girard Police Chief Frank Bigowsky. Mayor Melfi demoted Frank Bigowski in heated arguments before the Girard Civil Service Commission last year, and the city and the police chief ultimately reached a settlement on the demotion.

While police transported Melfi to St. Elizabeth Heath Center for treatment, he continued to curse at Youngstown police, threatened to have them fired and spit blood-filled saliva at them, police reports said.

The indictment says he spat at Bigowsky. The fifth-degree felony charge carries a penalty of up to a year in prison.

In addition to the harassment charge, Melfi was charged in Youngstown Municipal Court with misdemeanor disorderly conduct, to which he pleaded innocent.