Facing assault charge

Facing assault charge

YOUNGSTOWN

A man accused of punching a woman in the face Saturday so hard that her eyelid had to be glued back together is in the Mahoning County jail on $20,000 bond.

Lennill Bush, 45, of Hillman Avenue, was arraigned in municipal court before Magistrate Anthony Sertick on a charge of felonious assault, a second-degree felony.

Bush is accused of punching the woman, the mother of his child, in their car while they were in an argument Saturday evening on the North Side.

The woman got out of the car twice and managed to walk to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where she was treated for her injuries, said assistant city Prosecutor Jeffrey Moliterno.

While police were taking her statement, reports said Bush walked into the emergency room and was arrested there.

Patrol blitz conducted

CANFIELD

The Mahoning County Operating a Vehicle while Impaired Task Force, in partnership with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, on Friday conducted a coordinated saturation patrol blitz in Austintown.

Officers made 39 traffic stops, resulting in three citations for speed, a seat-belt violation and a traffic-control device violation.

Officers also issued a summons for driving under suspension and two summonses for drug abuse.

Probing 2-vehicle crash

AUSTINTOWN

The Ohio State Highway Patrol officers are investigating a two-vehicle crash on state Route 11.

Both vehicles were traveling southbound, north of Mahoning Avenue.

Courtney Lynn, 37, of West Middlesex, Pa., driver of one car, struck driver Michael McLaughlin, 51, of Columbiana, in a side-swipe fashion and went off the left side of the roadway, striking a tree.

Lynn was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital and treated for nonlife-threatening injuries.

McLaughlin was uninjured.

The left lane of Route 11 was partially shut down due to the accident. The Austintown Fire Department assisted at the crash scene.

Council meeting heats up

GIRARD

Animal-rights advocates and city officials engaged in a heated back and forth during a regular council meeting Monday night.

Activists, some of whom do not live in Girard, spoke out against the city’s ban of pit bulls as pets and called for the “tightening up” of existing tethering laws.

Council’s zoning committee has agreed to review the issues. Officials declined to immediately introduce emergency legislation, citing a need for more time to review safety concerns.

In other business, Auditor Sam Zirafi briefed council on various fund deficits, including a $96,000 general fund deficit and a $460,000 water fund deficit. Zirafi cited a plan to eliminate all fund deficits with two years.

Going into 2016, the city has total positive balance, aggregated from all funds, of about $762,000.

Stabbed during robbery

WARREN

A man, 27, of Warren, reported being stabbed during a robbery by a masked man on North Park Avenue near Atlantic Street at 5:45 a.m. Monday.

The victim, sitting in the foyer of a North Park Avenue home, had three stab wounds to his leg and one on his hand, and was taken to Valley Care Trumbull Memorial Hospital by ambulance.

Police said they didn’t find any blood in the area where the victim said it happened.

Man helps theft victim

WARREN

A good Samaritan tackled a man who took a woman’s purse, enabling her to get the purse back, but her wallet and a bag full of prescription drugs were taken, she told police.

The woman, 28, of Warren, said she was walking back home from the store when a male wearing a red hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans robbed her at 6:30 p.m. Sunday on Idylwild Street Northwest.

A police report says about $3,000 worth of pills were taken.

The woman showed officers injuries to her wrist and a bloody skin abrasion and said the back of her head hurt from the suspect knocking her to the ground.

The man who helped her is a friend of a female friend of hers, who also was there, the victim said.

Not-guilty plea issued

WARREN

Joshua D. Cope, 38, of Atlantic Street Northeast, pleaded not guilty today in Warren Municipal Court to a misdemeanor charge of possessing weapons while intoxicated after his wife reported that he had fired a gun five times outside of their house Saturday evening over family issues.

Police arrived and found several “craters” in the gravel consistent with gunshots being fired into the ground.

Cope appeared to be intoxicated and lethargic, police said.

Police confiscated a handgun and issued Cope a citation to appear in court.