Former corrections officer arrested for crashes, fleeing

Staff report

WARREN

A former corrections officer at the Niles jail is charged with five misdemeanor offenses after police said he was involved in two crashes and one chase Monday afternoon.

Edward J. Mosko, 43, of Larchmont Avenue Northeast and North Road Southeast, was taken to the Trumbull County Jail after the 2:23 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. accidents. He was released a few hours later.

He pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Warren Municipal Court to two counts of failure to stop after an accident, two counts of reckless operation and one of failure to comply with the orders of a police officer.

Mosko worked as a part-time corrections officer for Niles from March 4, 2003, until Jan. 31, 2012, when the jail was closed, according to Niles police.

An accident report says Mosko sideswiped a car in the drive-thru of Talmer Bank on East Market Street at 2:23 p.m. and left the scene. The driver of the other car, a woman, 67, was not injured.

At 2:30 p.m., Mosko was traveling eastbound on Forest Street Northeast when his truck traveled over the center line and off the road, through a fence in the Kundel Industries parking lot, then returning the same way, causing the fence to fall down, police said.

An officer caught up to Mosko’s vehicle on North Park Avenue as it turned onto Griswold Street and tried to traffic stop the vehicle on Bronze Road.

The pickup truck weaved on the roadway, nearly hitting oncoming traffic, its windshield shattered, police said. It was traveling 5 to 10 miles per hour just before Mosko pulled over and stopped in the parking lot of a business on Larchmont Avenue Northeast.

He handed the officer his wallet and badge. The badge was later turned over to the Niles Police Department. A call to Niles police seeking information on whether Mosko ever worked as a Niles police officer was not returned.