Police: No wrongdoing by bailiff

Staff report

campbell

Campbell police have concluded there was no wrongdoing on the part of the municipal court bailiff when a woman was shot while he pursued her.

Angela Trice-Harris, 29, of Youngstown was shot around noon March 5 during a scuffle with bailiff James Cioffi.

She had fled the courtroom inside the municipal building after Judge Patrick Cunning ordered her arrested for a probation violation on a driving-under-suspension conviction.

She ran out the front doors of the building to a parked car. Cioffi chased her, and when she got in the car, he drew his weapon, according to a police report.

As he approached the car with his weapon drawn, Trice-Harris grabbed it and pulled it toward her. It discharged, police reported.

“He acted within the scope of his duties, and the case is closed,” said Detective Sgt. John Rusnak, who investigated.

He said he based his conclusion on witness reports and on the definition of a bailiff’s duties under the Ohio Bailiffs Association.

“His job is to remand that person a judge has in custody,” he said.

He said he could find nothing in the Ohio Revised Code that prohibits a bailiff from chasing someone outside a courtroom.

Trice-Harris was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center after the shooting. She was charged with escape and resisting arrest. Her escape charge, a felony, was bound over to a Mahoning County grand jury.

She is free on bond and is to appear in Campbell court April 27 on the charge of resisting arrest.