Cops: Child in car watches dad run from traffic stop, asks why

YOUNGSTOWN

Police say a child who was a passenger in a car pulled over Monday for running a stop sign tried to hide from them and asked why his father got out of the passenger’s seat and ran away.

Reports also said the 4-year-old child asked police if they could let his mother out of a squad car she was placed in for driving under suspension. She was allowed to sit with her son in the passenger’s seat of their car, police said.

An officer noticed a car on the North Side about 6 p.m. running a stop sign and pulled it over at a 1704 Logan Ave. gas station, reports said. Reports said the officer ran the plates and found out the registered owner of the car has several open warrants from Trumbull and Mahoning counties.

However, when the officer went over to talk to the driver, a man in the passenger’s seat ran away. The officer was by himself and stayed with the driver because of the warrants, reports said.

The woman driving the car, Bilalah Alexander, 24, of Dennick Avenue, however, was not the owner of the car, reports said. She was talking on the phone when the officer asked her to get out of the car and she would not hang up to allow herself to be handcuffed, reports said. The officer had to take the phone off her and he placed her in the back of his cruiser because she fit the description of the owner and she also has several open suspensions on her license.

The officer then searched the car and found the child hiding in the backseat, reports said. Reports said the boy asked why his father ran away and also asked if his mother, Alexander, could be allowed out of the cruiser. She was allowed out of the cruiser and sat in the front seat of the car she was driving with her son, reports said.

Officers also contacted the owner of the car, Shaaute Pettway, 24, of Katherine Street, and she was dropped off by a man. When an officer asked her if she had anything illegal on her she said no, then asked if she could take here purse to the jail. When asked if there was anything illegal in her purse, she then asked if she could leave it with the man who dropped her off, reports said.

The officer checked inside the purse and found a pill bottle with 16 pills, reports said. Pettway was jailed on the warrants and a charge of possession of drugs.

Alexander was given a citation for driving under suspension and released at the scene with her son. The man the child called his father managed to get away, reports said.