Poland man faces child-endangering charges

By ROBERT CONNELLY

rconnelly@vindy.com

AUSTINTOWN

Township police arrested a Poland man late Tuesday after he didn’t stop for sirens while driving with his four children.

Richard J. Marshall, 29, of Meadow Lane, is charged with four counts of endangering children, failure to comply with the order of a police officer and driving under suspension.

Police also issued him traffic citations for having plates belonging to another vehicle and having an expired registration.

Marshall was traveling southbound on Rosemont Avenue about 11:24 p.m. when Austintown police turned on its lights to initiate a traffic stop.

Marshall continued southbound, however, on Rosemount Avenue about 15 miles per hour. The vehicle then turned into the Compass West apartments on Westgate Boulevard.

Marshall was driving under multiple license suspensions, according to a police report.

He had his four children, who range in age from 1 to 10, in the car. All were in child restraints in their seats.

When Marshall finally stopped, police saw him reach into the back seat and ordered him out of the vehicle with his hands up.

According to the report, the mother of all four children arrived on the scene after police had placed Marshall in handcuffs, and she took custody of the children.

Marshall appeared in Mahoning County Area Court here Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the child-endangering and failure-to-comply charges as well as driving under suspension.

A cash or surety bond was set at $10,000, and Marshall asked for an attorney to be appointed.

He was in the county jail late Wednesday, and his pretrial hearing is set for 6:30 p.m. April 28.