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Suspect arrested in baby’s beating
The teen was arrested without incident.
CAMPBELL — A routine traffic stop led officers to the man wanted in the brutal beating of a South Side baby.
Jerbrail Grhim, 19, of Campbell, was taken into custody Thursday afternoon by members of the U.S. Marshals Service and Campbell police.
Youngstown police have charged Grhim with felonious assault in the beating of the baby. The child is recovering at Akron Children’s Hospital.
John Gulu of the Campbell Police Department said officers made a routine traffic stop at 12th Street and Coitsville Road, but a passenger in the car, later identified as Grhim, jumped out and ran.
Gulu said officers received a tip a short time later that Grhim was hiding out at a house on Coitsville Road. Marshals and Campbell police surrounded the house and took Grhim into custody without incident, he said.
Richard Wright, 29, of Coitsville Road, the driver of the car in which Grhim was riding, also was arrested. Gulu said Wright is charged with driving without a valid license.
Youngstown police had been looking for Grhim for the last week, even asking for help from citizens who may have seen him.
Capt. Kenneth Centorame of YPD at that time said that anyone offering Grhim assistance with food, clothing, shelter or in any other way will be charged with a crime.
Gulu said it is believed that Grhim had been staying with Wright.
“This shows the cooperation between departments,” Centorame said. “We cannot do this alone, and with the help of the marshals and the Campbell police, we were able to bring him in without incident.”
The child, of Lucius Avenue, was reportedly assaulted with a wire coat hanger by Grhim, who is not related to the child. The child also was punched several times and held underwater in a bathtub.
A family friend has said the child was born in February 2008, and that Grhim had met the child’s mother two weeks ago.
jgoodwin@vindy.com