Animal cruelty alleged
Youngstown, OH (US)Incident Date: Friday, Aug 12, 2011
County: Mahoning
Charges: Misdemeanor, Felony Non-CTA
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Raymond Spires
Internal Affairs officers are investigating why a police officer fired a shot at a man at 9:20 a.m. Friday.
The officer, who is not being named, responded to a call for a shooting at 1204 Salt Springs Road on the West Side. Taken into custody for the charges of animal cruelty, resisting arrest, aggravated menacing, felonious assault and obstructing official business was Raymond Spires, 55. Spires is in the Mahoning County Jail and is scheduled to be arraigned in Municipal Court Monday.
Lt. Brian Butler, head of Internal Affairs, said he was still interviewing witnesses late Friday afternoon as well as the officer involved.
Police were called to 1204 Salt Springs Road by Nicholas Martin, 40. He told police he went to Spires' home to confront Spires about abusing his dog. Spires got angry and got a backpack, pulled a handgun and pointed it at Martin, police reports state.
Martin ran away on Donald Avenue and Spires fired a shot at him while he was running but missed, reports state, before Martin grabbed a bicycle and pedaled away.
The officer turned on Oakwood Avenue as he was responding and saw Spires on his bicycle on North Belle Vista Avenue. The officer pulled in front of the bicycle and got out with his gun drawn and Martin got off his bicycle, reports state.
The officer wrote in a report that Spires was a suspect in a recent case and has a history of taking part in violent crimes. The officer ordered Spires on the ground but he would not listen. Instead, Spires yelled back at the officer and moved toward him, with the officer taking a couple of steps back, the report states.
The officer wrote he was afraid for his life and that Spires was bigger than him, and he was afraid Spires would go for his gun. The officer wrote he considered pulling his Taser but thought in the time it took to do that Spires would get his gun so he decided to fire a shot.
The officer said he aimed at Spires' foot because he did not want to kill him and fired a shot which missed. However, after some more commands from the officer, Spires got on the ground and was arrested, reports state.
Butler is being assisted in his investigation by the department's Shooting Team, a group of officers who investigate cases where officers are forced to use their weapons.
In April, an officer working off-duty security at a North Side restaurant shot and killed a man during an attempted robbery. An investigation cleared that officer. References |
