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Judge sentences woman involved in fight
YOUNGSTOWN
One of six women initially facing felony charges after the beating of a Youngstown police officer on the South Side will spend a year on probation.
Alicia Davis, 21, of Winona Avenue, appeared before Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for sentencing Wednesday on a misdemeanor charge of attempted misconduct at an emergency. She originally had been charged with felony rioting; however, that charge was amended in a plea agreement with prosecutors, and she pleaded guilty to the lesser crime.
The charges against Davis stem from an altercation between two carloads of women in March 2011. Youngstown Police Officer Bridget Quinn responded to the call for a disturbance and was injured breaking up the fight.
Quinn said she arrived at the location to find several women standing outside of two cars engaged in a verbal altercation. She said she tried to separate the women, but one woman tried to attack one of the other women, leading to a melee.
Multiple women at the scene began to fight with the officer. Quinn suffered a back injury and was off work for a period of time.
Quinn did not appear for the sentencing hearing.
Atty. Ryan Ingram, representing Davis, said his client understands she should have behaved more appropriately during the melee and followed the officer’s orders, but she was not part of any physical confrontation with the officer.
Ingram said Davis has a job and is now the mother of an infant child. He said there is little chance of recidivism with Davis.
Davis briefly apologized to the court for her actions before Judge Durkin handed down her sentence and gave her probation.
The judge said the amended charge is representative of Davis’ part in the altercation. He said the message is clear that she should have obeyed the officer at the scene.
“When a police officer tells you to do something, you do it,” Judge Durkin added.
Four other women involved in the fight have either been found guilty or entered into plea agreements in the case. Ronisha Harris is slated for trial on aggravated-riot charges May 29.