Struthers woman punches mom, spits on cop, damages police station, police report

Staff report

struthers

A woman faces charges after she punched her mother, resisted arrest and damaged police-station property, police report.

Michelle A. Martin, 30, of Geneva Street, was charged Monday with assault, aggravated assault, resisting arrest, vandalism and aggravated menacing.

A friend of Martin’s, Ondrea Kurylak, 29, of Aspen Drive in Youngstown, was charged with obstructing official business and resisting arrest.

According to police, the charges stem from an argument Martin had with her mother over Martin’s 6-year-old son.

Martin’s mother, Marlane Kotch, 58, of Overlook Avenue, told police Martin called her Monday and asked her to pick up the child at school because she had to work.

Kotch did, and around 3:30 p.m., the boy asked to call his mother, she told police. After two hours of unanswered calls, Kotch took the boy to Martin’s house. Kurylak was passed out on the couch, Kotch told police. The boy went to his mother’s room, found her with a strange man and began to cry, she told police.

When Martin came out of her room, she and Kurylak began laughing because Martin couldn’t remember she’d brought Kurylak to her house, the report says.

Kotch confronted Martin for joking and ignoring her distraught son, and Martin punched her mother in the jaw, the report says.

Martin punched Kotch again, and Kotch and the boy fled to the driveway where she called police, according to police. Martin followed, punched her again and went back inside.

Martin told officers her mother was aggressive, and she hit her in self-defense. Martin became confrontational, however, when officers said her mother was pressing charges, police said.

Kurylak began screaming from the kitchen and was told to be quiet but would not, and she and Martin began struggling with police, the report says.

They were handcuffed, but fought and screamed on the way outside, drawing neighbors out of their houses, according to the report.

Kurylak was put on the ground while one officer helped another with Martin, the report says. Martin spit on an officer and on the cruiser window, according to police.

At the police station, the women screamed so loud the dispatcher couldn’t operate.

Martin was handcuffed to the booking room wall, but still managed to kick the desk, damaging it. She was moved to an interview room where she tampered with a wall-mounted camera, threw chairs and overturned a desk. She also damaged the drop ceiling and spit on the window. She threatened to kill an officer, police said.

A female inmate was taken from the jail for her safety, and two extra officers were called out during the arrests, the report says.

Martin and Kurylak were taken to the Mahoning County Jail, ineligible for bond on the felony charges until their arraignments, expected this morning.

Kotch has temporary custody of the boy, and Mahoning County Children Services has been notified.