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Youngstown cop reprimanded for firing at suspect
Officer cleared of wrongdoing, but he must undergo training
YOUNGSTOWN
A city police officer who shot at a man’s feet in August has been cleared of any wrongdoing, but he has received a reprimand and must undergo weapons training.
The Youngstown Police Department’s internal affairs division determined Officer Dan Mikus followed the deadly-force policy when he pulled his gun and fired a shot at Raymond Spires on Aug. 12. The reprimand and training are because Mikus fired at the man’s feet.
“Although implementation of use of force was justified, the manner in which the force was applied was unconventional for police firearms training. Implementing deadly force in this fashion could have broadened the danger to yourself and the public,” said a letter to Mikus from Brian Butler of internal affairs.
The investigation determined that Mikus believed he was in danger and needed to protect himself, but firing at the advancing man’s feet was not a suitable course of action. The letter did not outline specifically where Mikus should have aimed when firing his weapon.
The letter from internal affairs was the written reprimand, and Mikus will receive details about his training at a later date.
The shooting occurred about 9:20 a.m. in the 400 block of Belle Vista Avenue on the West Side. Officers were on their way to the scene after a 40-year-old city man told police Spires shot at him after he accused Spires of animal abuse.
Mikus saw Spires on a bicycle and stopped his cruiser.
Mikus was told by police dispatch that Spires’ backpack likely contained a weapon, and the officer recognized Spires as the person he had met with four months earlier when Spires was accused of setting an occupied apartment complex on fire, reports state.
Mikus said he yelled for Spires to get on the ground no fewer than 20 times and that Spires challenged the commands by talking to the officer by name. Spires came toward the officer, appearing angry with his hands clenched.
The officer fired at Spires’ right foot, and only then did Spires get on the ground, reports say.
The internal-affairs report includes statements from several witnesses who seem to confirm the officer’s statements concerning what took place just before the shooting.
Spires faces several charges, including illegal possession of a weapon, felonious assault and obstructing official business.
Vindicator files show that Mikus fired several shots at a man in 2005 who pointed a gun at the officer while fleeing. The man had just fired several shots at someone on the South Side, and police recovered drugs and a gun along the route he was running.