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Teen sentenced for underage DUI
YOUNGSTOWN
The man shot by a city police officer and later charged with obstructing official business and driving under the influence of alcohol in the summer will spend the next year on probation.
Cory Timmings, 18, of Austintown, appeared Wednesday before Judge Elizabeth Kobly of Youngstown Municipal Court for sentencing on the two misdemeanor charges. Timmings appeared in court accompanied by his attorney, Scott Cochran.
Judge Kobly placed Timmings on probation for one year, suspended his license for three months and fined him $250. Timmings also was ordered to spend three days in an Operating a Vehicle Impaired school.
Cochran said he is happy with the sentence considering the charges for which Timmings was convicted.
He said it is important to note his client was not convicted of assaulting Youngstown Police Officer Phil Chance Jr. or anything that would justify being shot in the back.
“I thought it was an appropriate sentence because the only thing he was guilty of was underage DUI. The only other thing he did was have his music too loud and not hear the officer’s orders,” Cochran added.
Cochran said Timmings is planning to file a lawsuit as soon as it can be determined who should be included in the suit. He said it must be determined if Chance was working for the bar or the city at the time of the shooting.
According to police, Timmings was shot in the parking lot of Pal Joey’s, a bar on East Midlothian Boulevard, at 2:36 a.m. Aug. 21. Chance was helping to break up a fight and disperse a large crowd at the bar when the shooting occurred.
Chance shouted to Timmings to lower the music coming from his car, police said. Rather than turn down the music, Timmings drove toward Chance, hitting the officer and forcing him up on the car’s hood, reports said.
According to reports, Timmings 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, who said he believed 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.
Cochran told the court Timmings still has a bullet lodged in his body, but said he is now working and attending classes at Youngstown State University.
The FBI has requested files associated with the case and is presumably looking into the matter. Police and the city prosecutor’s office investigations into the shooting cleared the officer of any wrongdoing.