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Victim in video beating on ventilator
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man beaten in a Market Street parking lot Monday, as several people encouraged the fight, was placed on a ventilator Wednesday, officials said.
The suspect in the beating, Tracey Shuler, 47, of West Warren Avenue, was also given a $90,000 bond Wednesday during his arraignment in municipal court before Magistrate Anthony Sertick.
Shuler was also arraigned on a misdemeanor count of criminal trespass and a warrant for failure to appear for a charge of criminal trespass. The place he is banned from going to is the Shell Station at 3200 Market St., where the fight was captured on video and streamed on Facebook for a short time before the video was taken down.
Police Chief Robin Lees said Wednesday detectives and city prosecutors have been scrutinizing the video to see if any of the people who encouraged the fight or did nothing to stop it could face criminal charges.
Before the fight started, someone said they would give $20 to the winner and when the fight was over people were giving money to Shuler.
City Prosecutor Dana Lantz told Magistrate Sertick that Shuler has a criminal record in both Ohio and Pennsylvania. Included in a list of comvictions or arrests in Ohio are four instances of domestic violence, Lantz said, as well as several drug charges, both in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Court records show that Shuler was given a criminal-trespass warning to stay away from the Shell Station in September 2016 after he pleaded no contest in municipal court to charges of disorderly conduct/drunkenness in a public place and criminal trespass.
Lantz asked for a $100,000 bond. Magistrate Sertick said he decided on a high bond because of the nature of the charge, a second-degree felony, and because of Shuler’s past criminal history, including three times he was issued warrants for failure to appear in court.
On June 12, Shuler picked up another criminal trespass charge for being at the station and was summoned into municipal court. He was set for a pretrial hearing in the case July 25 but never showed up, which was why he had a warrant for his arrest.
Mayor John A. McNally said Tuesday he has instructed the police department and city prosecutors office to explore options to have the gas station declared as a nuisance so they can close the station, which has been the scene of several late night fights and other incidents that have forced police to respond.