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Probe to begin into shooting by officer
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
YOUNGSTOWN
The investigative process will be under way this week for a city officer involved in a shooting that has left a man in the hospital.
Officer Phil Chance Jr. and an attorney supplied by the police officers union met briefly with city officials Monday. Chance is expected to return to the police department to supply a taped statement regarding the shooting of Cory Timmings, 18, at a South Side bar Friday.
Police Chief Jimmy Hughes said the taped statement from Chance is a normal part of the investigative process. The investigations into the shooting are being conducted by the department’s internal-affairs division, the detective bureau and the shooting team.
“We plan to have an interview with him to get his account of what happened. This is a normal part of the process. We are going to do a thorough investigation without leaning one way or the other,” Hughes said.
“The next step in the process will be proper determination of what actually happened and if there are to be criminal charges filed against the Timmings boy or if Chance did not use proper force,” the chief said. “We will look into all that. It could be a combination of those two things. The investigation will determine that.”
Timmings was shot in the parking lot of Pal Joey’s, a bar on East Midlothian Boulevard, at 2:36 a.m. Friday. Chance was helping to break up a fight and disperse a large crowd at the bar when the shooting occurred, according to a police report.
The officer shouted to Timmings to lower the music coming from his car, the police report states.
Rather than turn down the music, Timmings drove toward Chance, hitting the officer and forcing him up on the car’s hood, the report states.
Timmings, reports said, wouldn’t stop even though Chance, who rolled off to the driver’s side, told the 18-year-old man that he was under arrest.
Chance reached inside the car, trying to turn off the ignition. Timmings then increased his speed, dragging Chance, the report said.
The officer, saying he felt his life was in danger, pulled out his gun and fired a shot inside the car toward the driver.
Timmings, shot in the upper back, sped away, but his car was pulled over by police on Lake Park Drive.
Hughes said police have collected blood from Timmings, and that blood sample is being analyzed to determine if Timmings had been intoxicated at the time of the altercation.