Prosecutor says decision on Niles police shooting likely in 45 days

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Assistant Trumbull County Prosecutor Chris Becker says he expects to conclude his review of the Jan. 2 Niles police shooting death of Matthew Burroughs in 45 days and “present it to a grand jury or whatever we’re going to do with it.”

Among the routes such investigations have gone in the past are presentation to a grand jury, an announcement by the prosecutor’s office that no charges are being filed, and indictment of a police officer.

Becker said the last officer indicted was Sgt. James Zimomra of Newton Falls, who was indicted on felonious assault involving blows to the head of a woman with a flashlight. A jury found Zimomra not guilty of felonious assault but guilty of misdemeanor assault.

Though Becker said he doesn’t remember when he got the Burroughs case from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Steve Irwin, an AG spokesman, said Friday it happened March 25.

The AG’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation was in charge of the case shortly after Niles officers shot and killed Burroughs, 35, in the parking lot of his Royal Mall apartment in Niles.

When asked whether three months is a long time for prosecutors to review an officer-involved shooting, Becker said the retirement of long-time prosecutor’s investigator Gary Hetzel in late April and other issues have slowed his review.

“There’s a lot of paperwork, a lot of interviews. I’m probably three quarters of the way through the [BCI] report,” Becker said, adding that one shouldn’t “read into” that amount of time as an indication of what evidence he has been given.

When The Vindicator asked Irwin April 25 if he knew how long until the case would be turned over to prosecutors, he said he didn’t know, even though it had been turned over a month earlier. When asked about that Friday, Irwin called it a “miscommunication.”

Niles Police Chief Jay Holland said Friday he was aware from a BCI agent that BCI had turned over “everything” — reports, videos and other materials — to the prosecutor’s office months ago, “and I haven’t heard anything since.”

As for the length of time that has passed and confusing comments from the attorney general’s office, Holland said: “I can’t speculate on what BCI did and did not tell you.”

Burroughs, who was not armed, died from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest. Cellphone videos taken by citzens moments after the gunfire ended showed about five Niles officers around Burroughs’ car.

Holland released a statement about a week after the shooting, saying Burroughs “drove toward” his officers. They “perceived a threat to their safety and fired their service weapons,” the chief said.

Community members, including the president of the Trumbull County Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, have rallied on behalf of Burroughs and demanded a “credible” investigation into his death.