Fleeing suspects arrested in two incidents

Staff report

WARREN

Twice within an hour early Saturday, officers pursued and arrested two men who fled from them in their vehicles.

About 12:30 a.m., officer Tim Ladner was answering a call in the Trumbull Homes apartments on North Feederle Drive Southeast regarding five to six males in a blue Chevy Suburban “running around with guns,” when he spotted a vehicle matching that description and attempted to pull the car over.

The driver, later identified as Raphael D. Burney Jr., 20, of Homewood Avenue Southeast, traveled about 11/2 blocks before stopping in a parking lot.

Ladner found a latex glove tied to one of Burney’s belt loops that contained four rounds of ammunition. Inside the car, the officer also found 21 rounds of ammunition under the driver’s front seat.

Burney pleaded innocent Monday in Warren Municipal Court to failure to comply with the orders of a police officer, a third-degree felony, and was released after posting $7,500 bond.

About 1:15 a.m., officer David Weber was parked on West Market Street when a motorcycle passed doing 49 mph in a 25 mph zone.

Weber attempted to stop the motorcycle, but its driver proceeded at about 80 mph until he slowed near Southern Boulevard, then motioned for the officer to follow him.

Weber used his public-address system to tell the driver several times to pull over, but he didn’t do so until he had arrived at his house on Clearwater Street Northwest.

After the driver, Stephen L. Sizemore, 41, ignored two more orders, Weber used his stun gun on Sizemore, and arrested him without incident. Police recovered 35 pills in Sizemore’s pocket.

Sizemore refused to take a blood-alcohol test.

Sizemore pleaded innocent Monday morning to a third-degree felony charge of failure to comply and was released after posting $10,000 bond.