Austintown officer hit by police cruiser

AUSTINTOWN — A township officer was hospitalized after he was struck by a fellow officer’s police cruiser responding to a school threat Friday.

Det. Shawn Hevener was released from the hospital Friday evening with a chipped vertebrae, Police Chief Bob Gavalier said. Everyone was rushing to provide additional officers to Austintown Intermediate School, a cruiser began moving, and Hevener was struck, Trustee Rick Stauffer said.

Stauffer added that Hevener could have sustained greater injury, but braced himself in a manner that only left him bruised.