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Police handle incidents during holiday weekend
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Police were busy at just after midnight New Year’s Eve day, trying to bring a crowd of 60 to 70 juveniles under control on Swallow Street Southwest a short time before a shooting on Homewood Avenue Southeast.
Officers were first called to the intersection of Swallow and Parkman Road Northwest at 12:10 a.m. Saturday for a large crowd of teens and young adults fighting.
Warren police found 60 to 70 youths in the street and called for assistance from two Warren Township police officers.
The youths were ordered to leave the area, and officers used pepper spray, but some of the youths threw objects at a police cruiser, yelled obscenities at them and ran through back yards to adjacent streets, Warren police said.
Robert Harvey, 18, of Brier Street Southeast, was charged with rioting, a first-degree misdemeanor. He pleaded innocent Tuesday in Warren Municipal Court and was released after posting $1,000 bond. A juvenile male was also charged with rioting and released to a parent Saturday.
In the hours after police were called to Swallow Street, they arrested three male juveniles for a curfew violation for walking in the area of Parkman Avenue and Front Street Southwest near Swallow.
A 16-year-old Main Avenue Southwest boy told police he was struck in the head by another juvenile male with a handgun as he was walking hear a large house party in the 900 block of Swallow at 12:05 a.m. Saturday. The victim said the gun went off as the suspect hit him, but he was not hit by the bullet.
An hour later, 1:07 a.m., Maurice Griggs, 25, of Homewood reported that he had been shot in the arm by two masked men wearing camouflage who attempted to enter his home. Officers found a large amount of blood on the front porch, a bullet hole in the window in the front door and a spent shell casing on the sidewalk. Griggs was not there, however. A friend had taken him to ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital.
Just after the new year began, police were called to the home of William Thompson, 45, of Elm Road Northeast. Thompson was charged with misdemeanor assault and domestic violence after fighting with family and officers at his home and with officers again later at a hospital, where he hit officer David Weber in the shoulder.
Officers were also called to 669 Third Street Southwest just after the new year started Sunday morning. A 26-year-old man reported being struck in the arm by a bullet in front of his home while walking at 12:11 a.m. The bullet apparently was fired from a great distance because when it hit him, it only penetrated about one-eighth of an inch, police said.