METRO DIGEST || Pavlik pleads not guilty

Pavlik plea

CANFIELD

Former middleweight boxing champion Kelly Pavlik did not appear in Canfield Court on Tuesday for a theft charge, but sent in a written plea of not guilty.

Pavlik was charged after he failed to pay a cabdriver $25 for driving him to his Canfield home from a South Meridian Road bar about 2:45 a.m. last Wednesday. Pavlik has a pretrial hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Nov. 8.

Deputy sentenced

CANFIELD

A Mahoning County deputy sheriff pleaded no contest in Canfield Court on Tuesday to operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Kenneth O’Rourke, 52, of Canfield is accused of crashing into two parked vehicles May 14.

O’Rourke’s blood alcohol level was .242 — more than three times the state’s legal limit of 0.08, according to Vindicator files.

O’Rourke was fined $1,075 with $575 being suspended, and he was sentenced to 180 days in jail with 177 suspended. In lieu of jail time, O’Rourke can attend a three-day driving school, receive 12 months of probation and have his license suspended for six months from the date of the incident.

Officers injured

HUBBARD

Two city police officers were hurt in a scuffle with a man who crashed his car Monday evening.

They were treated at St. Elizabeth Health Center for back, shoulder and hand injuries after falling down steps at the man’s house, said Hubbard Police Chief Jim Taafe.

Lawrence Lissimore, 39, of Saul Drive struggled with the officers after he walked away from crashing his car into a tree on Saul at 6 p.m., said Taafe. Officers went to his house to find him.

Lissimore was arraigned by video Tuesday morning in Girard Municipal Court. He is charged with assault on a police officer, a felony, and resisting arrest, a misdemeanor.

He was sent to the Trumbull County jail in lieu of a $1,000 bond, or 10 percent of $10,000, the court said.

Suicide in park

GIRARD

A man committed suicide by hanging himself in Liberty Park, a police report says.

The report says a man out for a run found the 44-year-old Girard man hanging from a tree branch about 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

The runner told police he saw the man sitting in a pavilion in the north end of the park about noon. He told police the man was holding what he thought was a cord. When he came back near the pavilion on his run, he noticed the body, he said.

The man hanged himself with an electrical cord, police said.

McClurkin probe

GIRARD

A police investigation is continuing into charges that McClurkin Funeral Home directors stole more than $400,000 from consumers.

The Ohio Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors announced last week it suspended the licenses of Patrick J. McClurkin and Robert J. McClurkin.

Girard Police Chief Jeff Palmer said people who believe they may have been victimized should contact police Capt. John Norman at 330-545-0211.

Kittens shot to death

WARREN

The Warren Police Department is investigating the Monday afternoon discovery of four kittens shot to death.

The kittens were discovered at a house in the 1900 block of Northfield Avenue Northwest.

Sgt. Jeff Cole said it is not known what they were shot with, but the kittens were not owned by the person who found them.

West Side closings

Youngstown

Cherokee Drive will be closed between Atoka and Neshoba roads on the city’s West Side from noon to 9 p.m. Sunday for a neighborhood block party.

U-Haul truck stolen

AUSTINTOWN

Township police are investigating the theft of a U-Haul truck from the parking lot of the Country Inn Suites, Interstate Boulevard, on Monday.

Multiple items were inside the truck, including couches, a mattress, television and clothing, according to a police report.

Fire destroys home

YOUNGSTOWN

A vacant 52 E. Delason Ave. home on the South Side was destroyed by fire about 1:35 a.m. Tuesday, and a neighboring home sustained $1,500 in damage from heat, fire reports said.

Firefighters who arrived found the second floor of the 52 E. Delason Ave. home engulfed in flames and went to see if anyone was in the home next door, reports said. Someone answered the door but they refused to talk to firefighters and left before the fire was put out. That house sustained warped siding and cracked windows, reports said. Neighbors said the home has been vacant for some time but that people have been coming and going there, reports said.

Damage for the home for the original call was $4,300 and it is a total loss, reports said. The cause is under investigation. There were no injuries.

Friday street closing

YOUNGSTOWN

The city will close Roger Lindgren Way, located off Division Street, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday to accommodate Vallourec Star’s Investors’ Day program.