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Man charged with taking son, injuring cops
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
An Austintown man is in the Mahoning County jail on $40,000 bond after police say he forced his way into a West Side apartment early Monday, forcefully took his 4-year-old son, then fought with police in Austintown when he was found.
William Smaltz, 38, of North Kimberly Avenue in Austintown, was arraigned in municipal court later Monday on charges of domestic violence and abduction and is certain to face charges in Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown for resisting arrest and injuring two township officers who tried to arrest him.
Youngstown police were called to an apartment in the 2800 block of Vestal Road about 1 a.m., where a woman there told them the father of her son kicked in a door, flashed a knife in her face and took their 4-year-old son.
The woman said Smaltz forced her up the stairs at knife point to wake up their son and he forced her to take the boy to his car, reports said. When the woman tried to run away, he grabbed her and threatened to kill her and then drove off, reports said.
When city police arrived, they broadcast a description of the car and Smaltz’s address and township police found his car about 20 minutes later at Smaltz’s apartment building, reports said. With a Youngstown officer who also came along, township police got Smaltz’s roommate to open the door, and he allowed officers inside, reports said.
Police found Smaltz in a master bedroom, and he was ordered to get on the ground or he would be stunned with an electronic stun gun, reports said. Smaltz said that those weapons would not work on him, he was warned again, then stunned, reports said.
He then retreated into the bedroom and rammed his head through a window, reports said, as his son was on a bed. He fell to the floor and tried to take the probes from the stun weapon out and was stunned again, but he managed to get to his feet and lunged at an Austintown officer.
He pushed the officer into a hallway and slammed him into a wall. As the pair fell to the floor, Smaltz tried to reach for the officers weapon until he was pulled off the officer, reports said. He was calm once he was handcuffed, reports said.
One township officer injured an arm while Smaltz was on the floor struggling while the other officer was looked at by paramedics for injuries to his neck, shoulder and finger, reports said.