Mayor must seek independent probe of behavior of city police

If the growing controversy swirl- ing around a recent police traffic stop in Youngstown has a familiar ring, it’s because it has the same characteristics as the infamous “Michael Sciortino arrest/unarrest” in May 2013.

Sciortino, Mahoning County auditor, spit the hook on a potential drunken driving charge because a high-ranking member of the sheriff’s department intervened.

In the Youngstown case, which is being investigated by the city Police Department’s internal affairs division, Joseph K. Slattery was stopped Nov. 28 on Mahoning Avenue by a patrolman for a traffic violation. The officer saw a can of beer in his hand.

Slattery was subsequently arrested and taken to police headquarters. That’s when the Sciortino- type intervention is said to have occurred.

According to sources, a veteran police officer who is related to Slattery stepped in and stopped the arrest procedure.

The facts surrounding the case are hard to come by because police Chief Robin Lees, city Law Director Martin Hume, Assistant Law Director Anthony Donofrio and others contend that the city is permitted by state law to keep all relevant information under wraps because of the ongoing investigation.

In other words, city officials are of the opinion that the state’s public-records statute does not apply.

We disagree — especially on the issue of whether a blood-alcohol test was administered to Slattery.

The city has refused to make public the log book that is kept in the room where the machine, commonly known as a BAC (blood-alcohol content) machine, is stored.

Vindicator Reporter Joe Gorman has seen the log book, which shows Slattery was in the room, but there is no notation next to the section where blood-alcohol content is recorded.

That’s troubling.

Significantly, it isn’t the only omission from the official record pertaining to the case. A source has told the newspaper that Slattery’s car was retrieved from a tow yard, even though there is no mention of that in the police report.

In fact, a separate police report is required when city police have a vehicle towed.

The Vindicator, along with our television news partner, 21 WFMJ-TV, has filed a public-records request for the BAC test and surveillance videos that could reveal what took place at the police department.

Given the circumstances surrounding this case, we do not believe the Youngstown Police Department’s internal affairs division should be conducting the investigation.

We, therefore, call on Mayor James A. McNally to order a suspension of the IA probe and to seek the involvement of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation in uncovering the unvarnished truth of what occurred late last month.

Summit County Sheriff’s Office

In the Sciortino case, county Sheriff Jerry Greene, aware of the public’s negative perception of law enforcement agencies policing themselves, asked the Summit County Sheriff’s Office to investigate. Greene thus muted any complaints that his deputies were adhering to the Blue Code of Silence. The findings of the Summit County investigators were turned over to the special prosecutions unit of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

In the end, however, Democrat Sciortino, who lost his re-election bid Nov. 4 to Republican Ralph Meacham, received a legal kiss on the cheek because there was insufficient evidence of impairment. The reason being that sheriff’s deputies did not charge Sciortino with Operating a Vehicle Impaired, did not complete an arrest report, and did not request any breath, blood or urine samples.

“Because there is insufficient evidence of impairment, Sciortino will plead to a Failure of Control traffic offense,” Assistant Attorney General Micah R. Ault wrote to Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains.

We don’t want to read a similar veiled indictment of Youngstown police officers regarding the Slattery case, which is why we want the BCI to be brought in as soon as possible.