State agency begins investigation of officer conduct

Staff report

WARREN

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has begun an investigation of actions of veteran Warren police patrolman Reuben Shaw.

Shaw is accused of towing a vehicle not owned by him to property he owns.

The agency began its investigation this week after a request by Warren Police Chief Eric Merkel, to determine whether any criminal activity is involved in the June 30 incident.

The chief placed Shaw on paid administrative leave last week pending completion of the investigation.

Meanwhile, Merkel has asked Lt. Daniel Mason, internal-affairs investigator, to look into an incident from early Sunday in which officers failed to discover that a man taken into custody had a firearm in his possession.

Officers were investigating a complaint from a Peace Street Northwest woman that two males appeared to be trying to break into her home at 1:45 a.m.

Officers took a 19-year-old Warren man and a 17-year-old Warren man into custody and placed them in separate police cruisers.

That’s when one Warren officer heard a “thud” sound and a short time later found a handgun on the floor of the cruiser after arriving at the Trumbull County jail.

The officer said he didn’t pat down the suspect because he had been patted down once already before being placed in another cruiser.

Mason said the matter probably involves a “technical error” by the first officer in failing to find the gun and a policy violation by the officer who failed to pat down the suspect a second time before putting him in the cruiser.

Such matters usually result in a reprimand or retraining, Mason said.