YPD: Man spits on paramedic, kicks nurse

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Reports said a man who was slumped over the wheel of a car Monday did not stay that way for long, as he fought with police and paramedics and spit on a paramedic and kicked a nurse.

Robert Miller, 40, of Orlo Drive in Boardman, is in the Mahoning County jail on charges of assault after he was found about 10 a.m. Monday on Julian Avenue.

Reports said police were called to the street for a report of a man who was slumped over the wheel of a vehicle, who was later determined to be Miller. Reports said he warned police he would fight them and he was very uncooperative, flailing his arms and screaming loudly.

Officers managed to get him into an ambulance but he tried to leave the ambulance several times, insulting officers and also using racial slurs, reports said.

Because of his behavior, Miller was handcuffed and placed in a police cruiser in hopes he would calm down, reports said, but he refused to move and dropped to the ground.

He was picked up and put in the cruiser, where he then banged his head into a window and partition, reports said. He was warned he would be stunned with an electronic stun weapon if he did not calm down, and he then calmed down briefly, reports said.

However, when police tried to place him back in the ambulance, he was so uncooperative it took five officers to place him on a gurney, reports said. Inside the ambulance, he spit in the face of a paramedic, and then at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, he kicked a nurse in the chest, reports said.

Reports said a doctor sedated him so he could be examined. When he was released to police, two officers came to transport him to the jail, but he did not give them any trouble.