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YPD to investigate traffic stop
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
The police department’s Internal Affairs Division will look into allegations that a relative of a police officer received preferential treatment after a traffic stop.
The department will be examining actions taken Friday at a traffic stop on the West Side, where a man was stopped for running a red light and given a citation for having an open container of alcohol.
Departmental sources told The Vindicator the driver was taken to the police station and given a blood-alcohol test and could have been arrested or charged with driving under the influence.
Instead, the driver was given a citation for failure to obey a traffic-control device and having an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle.
Lt. Brian Butler, head of internal affairs, said Tuesday afternoon an investigation will be conducted to see if the driver was given preferential treatment because he is related to a police officer.
The Vindicator also has requested dispatch recordings of the incident and to look at the logbook the department keeps when someone is taken to the police station and given a breath test to determine if he or she is legally drunk.
There is a machine to measure blood-alcohol content on the second floor of the police station, which is where people who are suspected of drunken driving are taken to receive their test.
The stop happened about 5:30 p.m. Friday when an officer noticed a car run a red light at Steel Street and Mahoning Avenue, accord- ing to the report. The officer pulled the car over at Mahoning and Glacier avenues.
The report said the driver of the car did not appear drunk, but did have a 12-ounce can of beer in his hand.
The car was released to another licensed driver who was present and the driver was given the citations, the report said. The can of beer was taken as evidence.