Man charged with assaulting officer

Staff report

AUSTINTOWN

A township man is in jail on $50,000 bond after he reportedly assaulted a police officer during a traffic stop.

Tim N. Tuchek, 39, of Notre Dame Avenue, was charged Sunday with resisting arrest, driving under suspension, drug abuse and possessing drug paraphernalia, all misdemeanors, as well as assault on a police officer and aggravated menacing on a police officer, both felonies.

He was booked into Mahoning County jail and is scheduled for a pretrial hearing Thursday at 10:30 a.m. in Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown.

Austintown police stopped Tuchek about 2:10 a.m. Sunday after observing him pull off the road several times near Oberlin Place and Vassar Drive. After checking his driver’s license, officers found that Tuchek was driving under a child-support suspension, a police report said.

The officers asked the suspect several times to turn the car off, but he refused. One of the officers unlocked the door by reaching into the open window and pulled Tuchek, who was combative, out of the car with the help of the second officer, the report said.

Tuchek was taken to the ground and handcuffed before the officers attempted to put him into the cruiser. Police said they had to force the suspect into the back of the car, and once Tuchek was inside, he kicked one of the officers several times in the legs and the groin.

Tuchek then began threatening the officers, saying, “I’m going to find you when I get out and smash your [expletive] face in,” and bashing his head against the divider in the cruiser, according to the report.

During an inventory of Tuchek’s car, police found a bag of suspected marijuana and rolling papers.