Officers follow prints to apprehend suspect

A suspect was finally arrested after his shoes matched the footprints.

staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — Following footprints in freshly fallen snow led Patrolmen Tony Vitullo and Jerry Fulmer up and down driveways, sidewalks and through yards on the West Side until they found their break-in suspect, William Kerensky, 24, of North Evanston Avenue at 2:50 a.m. Friday.

He was charged with attempted burglary and will be arraigned Monday in municipal court.

The officers started their trek at 2:30 a.m. at a house in the 100 block of Milton Avenue where a burglar alarm on the garage door had sounded. The homeowner said the door should not have been open, and she’ll check to see if anything is missing.

Vitullo and Fulmer followed the footprints all over Milton and onto Glacier Avenue where they led to other garage doors and cars. The footprints crossed Mahoning Avenue and continued to First Street.

The pattern continued. The prints went up to garage doors and cars and then kept going.

The officers followed their quarry’s tracks to Laird Street, on to Second Street and then toward Steel Street and Evanston Avenue, where they cut through a vacant lot to get to North Lakeview Avenue.

That’s where they saw Kerensky and deduced that his shoe prints matched what they had been following in the snow. The shoes were taken as evidence.

Kerensky told police he’d been at a man’s house on Halls Heights Avenue. The officers checked out his alibi but found no footprints anywhere on Halls Heights.

The jail would not accept Kerensky because of high blood pressure so he was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center with a police hold. Once discharged, he will be taken to jail.