Man shot at by cop enters guilty pleas

July 23, 2013 at 12:00a.m.

youngstown

A man who police say tried to run over an officer on the West Side in December, and was instead shot, entered guilty pleas in four separate cases Monday.

Jesse Cooper, 39, entered pleas of guilty before Judge John Durkin of Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas to charges of felonious assault, theft and receiving stolen property.

The felonious-assault charge stems from a traffic stop Dec. 16 at Connecticut and Richview avenues where police say Cooper tried to run down officer Brad Ditullio.

Ditullio pulled over Cooper for driving a car with expired plates, but instead Cooper drove through several yards to try and get away from him. Ditullio tried to cut him off and was looking for the car in a yard when Cooper drove straight toward him and hit the officer, reports said.

Ditullio was stuck on the driver’s side mirror and fired his weapon twice and hit Cooper in the stomach. He was in the hospital for several days before he was indicted.

An internal-affairs report said Ditullio followed departmental policy when using his weapon because he believed his life was in danger. He missed some time off work but has since returned to duty.

Cooper’s case was set to go to trial Monday before he entered his plea.

Cooper has a lengthy criminal record and was out on bond when he hit Ditullio. He had a pending receiving stolen property case for which he had yet to be arraigned at the time and was awaiting sentencing on a similar charge from 2011.

Court records show 20 different court cases against Cooper since 1998.

Sentencing in the cases he pleaded guilty to Monday is set for Sept. 13.