Cop faces prison in his son’s death

Sentencing will occur after a pre-sentence investigation.

YOUNGSTOWN — A part-time Minerva police officer faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to child endangering stemming from the accidental shooting death of his 2-year-old son.

In exchange for the guilty plea entered Monday morning before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, the involuntary manslaughter charge against Douglas Foor, 25, was dismissed.

The child- endangering charge against Amanda Saunier, 24, the boy’s mother and Foor’s girlfriend, also was dismissed as part of the plea deal.

The couple lives on Murray Avenue, Minerva.

Tracey Laslo, one of the attorneys who represented the couple, said that Foor will no longer be able to serve as a police officer. But he wants to save others from similar mistakes, the lawyer said.

“He wants to teach gun safety,” she said.

The couple’s son, Jacob, killed himself when he fired a handgun into his chest Nov. 13, 2008. The gun was Foor’s, but not his service weapon.

Smith Township police have said the toddler had the barrel of the gun pointing toward his chest and pulled the trigger with both thumbs.

Foor will be sentenced after a pre-sentence investigation is completed.

The plea agreement means Foor could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.

An involuntary manslaughter conviction carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

Foor and Saunier sat stoically in the courtroom gallery, awaiting the start of the proceedings. Foor, dressed in off-white cargo pants and a striped, button-down shirt, answered guilty, when Judge Sweeney asked for his plea to the child endangering charge.

Laslo said the couple, who remain together along with their 1-year-old daughter, Hannah, have had a difficult time since their son’s death.

“They cry all the time,” she said.

They have much support, though, from their church, the attorney said.

denise_dick@vindy.com