43
Boardman man indicted in strangle attack on retired deputy
By Elise Franco
Youngstown
A Mahoning County grand jury indicted a Boardman man accused of attacking a retired female deputy sheriff outside an Austintown store.
David Hughes, 58, of Buchanan Drive, was indicted Thursday on charges of abduction, felonious assault and child endangering.
Hughes is accused of attempting to strangle a 63-year-old former deputy sheriff with a pair of pantyhose while outside Dollar General on South Raccoon Road, according to a police report.
Hughes’ arraignment date hasn’t been set.
He initially was charged in Austintown court with felonious assault and aggravated menacing.
“[The indictment] is because of the seriousness of the crime,” said Austintown Detective Sgt. Kathy Dina. “He almost killed someone.”
The child-endangering charge stems from the fact that Hughes had his 5-year-old grandson in the car with him when the attack occurred, she added.
The victim, Dorothy Frazzini, of Austintown, told The Vindicator in May that she was approached by a man as she left Dollar General on April 26. He asked her where he could find a necklace for his wife.
Frazzini, who worked for the sheriff’s department for 25 years, said she suggested he check inside the store and continued getting into her car.
A few seconds later, she said, Hughes slipped the nylon pantyhose around her throat and began to choke her. She said she elbowed him in the chest, which loosened the nylons enough for her to slip her hands in between the restraint and her throat.
She was then able to pin Hughes against her car until police officers arrived.
Frazzini said Thursday she is pleased with the quick work of the prosecutor’s office and police department. “They did a really good job,” she said.
Though the judicial process has begun for Hughes, she said the incident remains with her.
“It bothers me, and it would bother anybody,” she said. “The question of why is always in your mind.”
Dina said this wasn’t Hughes’ first run-in with the law.
In 1991, he was charged with assault by Beaver Township police after he was accused of trying to strangle a woman with a rubber hose outside a Dairy Queen, according to a Beaver police report.
In 2006, Boardman police charged Hughes with public indecency and drug abuse after a woman reported that he left his vehicle on South Avenue and was standing naked in front of her car.
Prescription medication was found inside Hughes’ car, according to the report. The charges out of Boardman court were dismissed later.