Man arraigned for assaulting driver of car

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Reports said police arrested a man after arguing Sunday with a woman over a power outage, beating her while she was driving and causing the car they were in to crash into a snowbank.

James Hayes, 58, of Forest Avenue, is expected to be arraigned later today in municipal court on a charge of assault.

Police were called about 6:25 p.m. Sunday to the 1400 block of East Midlothian Boulevard on the South Side, where reports said a car was in a snowbank and the woman driver told them she argued with Hayes about a power outage on the East Side as they drove to dinner.

The woman told police Hayes grabbed her by the back of her hair, slammed her head into the steering wheel and tried to turn the car off while it was in gear before it crashed into the snowbank.

A bystander came to help and Hayes fled, reports said.

Hayes was found on Shirley Road and told police he was assaulted. He was arrested because the victim had marks on her neck and cuts on her throat, reports said, and it appeared Hayes had no injuries to match the assault he described the victim had done to him.

Court records show that Hayes has prior assault convictions in municipal court in 2006 and 2010. Both times he was sentenced to probation.