Published: Saturday, December 30, 2006
Man, 19, described punch as defensive
No independent witness or videotape was available, a Girard detective said.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD — A 19-year-old city man told police he tried to help a friend get out of a jam at closing time outside a bar, was confronted by Kevin Elza of Bristolville, avoided a punch from Elza and then threw one himself — a blow that authorities think caused Elza's death.
Girard police received this account from the 19-year-old Nov. 6, 2005, about eight hours after the episode occurred in the parking lot of the Creekside Golf Dome on State Street. He went to the police station voluntarily to tell police what happened.
It was months later, however, before a Trumbull County grand jury concluded that the 19-year-old didn't deserve to be charged in the case. The detective handling the case said the man's actions were in self-defense.
After The Vindicator filed a public records request with the Girard Police Department, officials made videotapes available of the statement the 19-year-old gave to police — and other details not previously disclosed by police or prosecutors.
The 19-year-old had gone to Creekside Golf Dome in the early morning of Nov. 6 and met with about six friends, he told police. Most of them were from Girard. He left the bar inside the facility around 2:15 a.m., and that's when the trouble began.
The man said he didn't know why his friend, David Riehl Jr., now 20, got into the back seat of the car Elza was in, but he helped Riehl get back out. While doing so, he noticed that Elza, 36, was giving him "the dead stare."
The 19-year-old said that as he and Riehl walked away, some of the 19-year-old's friends started "egging them on" toward a confrontation. Elza got out of his car and walked toward the 19-year-old, who told police he tried to avoid a confrontation by telling Elza repeatedly, "My friend [Riehl] is an idiot" and that he didn't want to fight.
"All of a sudden [Elza] takes a swing at me," the man told police. "My head goes back. Like he takes a swing. I just like dodge it, and I just give him a right hook just right to the face. And he went down kinda ... he was out of it. He just stumbled down to the ground. I walked away. I was ready to leave. I was like, 'This was stupid. This should never have happened.'"
The man said he left the area and didn't know what happened next.
Support for self-defense
Girard Detective Greg Manente said the 19-year-old later passed a polygraph test that asked whether he had done anything more than throw one punch in self-defense. Manente said a coroner's report indicated that Elza died because he fell straight back after the 19-year-old's punch and suffered a fatal injury when he hit the back of his head on the parking lot pavement.
In the absence of videotape evidence from the scene or any "independent witnesses," officers had to rely on the coroner's report and the other witnesses, Manente said. Statements taken from "seven or eight" people at the scene corroborated the 19-year-old's account, Manente said, adding that officers couldn't get much information from Elza's friend.
Manente said the golf dome surveillance camera running that night was aimed about 20 feet away from the confrontation, so the tape doesn't show the encounter.
Chuck Morrow, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, has previously detailed other events that occurred before and after the 19-year-old threw his punch, but had refused to discuss the 19-year-old's involvement, citing legal ethics.
Others convicted
Morrow has said that Riehl and Brian Charles, now 22, received probation in their plea agreements on misdemeanor convictions because neither one did anything of an "assaultive" nature to Elza. He said Charles dared Riehl to get into the car as a practical joke, and Riehl got in. Charles was convicted of criminal trespass and menacing. Riehl was convicted of inciting to violence.
A third man, Roberto Dubelt, now 22, was convicted of assault and sentenced to 25 weeks in jail. Morrow said Dubelt did hit Elza twice, but explained that the blows did not lead to Elza's death. Morrow said that a coroner's report indicated Elza suffered a fatal "hinge fracture" to his skull and that the fracture did not come from Dubelt's blows.
"Dubelt stated [Elza] was a decent size and he was afraid he was going to get up," Manente said, adding that his interpretation of the coroner's investigation is that Dubelt "hit a dead guy."
Another witness to the confrontation between Elza and the men said Elza threw a "real slow, wild punch" at the 19-year-old. He said the 19-year-old punched back "out of reaction" and that Elza stumbled and fell after that.
Alcohol consumption
Morrow said Elza had a high enough blood-alcohol level to possibly cause him to lose his balance easily the night he died. Riehl told investigators in his videotaped statement that he had consumed around 10 beers that evening, most of it at a friend's house in Girard as they watched a football game on television and played cards. Riehl said he consumed some of those beers inside the golf dome that evening after sneaking them in. The 19-year told investigators he hadn't had much to drink that night because he was supposed to work at 10 a.m. Nov. 6.
Manente said he investigated whether underage drinking had occurred and forwarded information to the Ohio Department of Liquor Control. That resulted in an investigation by the Ohio Investigative Unit of the Ohio Department of Public Safety on Jan. 7, 2006, in which investigators found that the golf dome had sold alcoholic beverages to two people under age 21 that night at 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m.
The business paid a fine for the offenses, said Scott Pohlman, deputy director of the Ohio Investigative Unit.
A civil lawsuit filed by Tracy L. Elza, Kevin Elza's widow and administrator of his estate is pending in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court against Dubelt, Charles, Riehl and Creekside Golf Dome. She seeks more than $50,000 in compensatory and punitive damages from the defendants.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
No independent witness or videotape was available, a Girard detective said.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD — A 19-year-old city man told police he tried to help a friend get out of a jam at closing time outside a bar, was confronted by Kevin Elza of Bristolville, avoided a punch from Elza and then threw one himself — a blow that authorities think caused Elza's death.
Girard police received this account from the 19-year-old Nov. 6, 2005, about eight hours after the episode occurred in the parking lot of the Creekside Golf Dome on State Street. He went to the police station voluntarily to tell police what happened.
It was months later, however, before a Trumbull County grand jury concluded that the 19-year-old didn't deserve to be charged in the case. The detective handling the case said the man's actions were in self-defense.
After The Vindicator filed a public records request with the Girard Police Department, officials made videotapes available of the statement the 19-year-old gave to police — and other details not previously disclosed by police or prosecutors.
The 19-year-old had gone to Creekside Golf Dome in the early morning of Nov. 6 and met with about six friends, he told police. Most of them were from Girard. He left the bar inside the facility around 2:15 a.m., and that's when the trouble began.
The man said he didn't know why his friend, David Riehl Jr., now 20, got into the back seat of the car Elza was in, but he helped Riehl get back out. While doing so, he noticed that Elza, 36, was giving him "the dead stare."
The 19-year-old said that as he and Riehl walked away, some of the 19-year-old's friends started "egging them on" toward a confrontation. Elza got out of his car and walked toward the 19-year-old, who told police he tried to avoid a confrontation by telling Elza repeatedly, "My friend [Riehl] is an idiot" and that he didn't want to fight.
"All of a sudden [Elza] takes a swing at me," the man told police. "My head goes back. Like he takes a swing. I just like dodge it, and I just give him a right hook just right to the face. And he went down kinda ... he was out of it. He just stumbled down to the ground. I walked away. I was ready to leave. I was like, 'This was stupid. This should never have happened.'"
The man said he left the area and didn't know what happened next.
Support for self-defense
Girard Detective Greg Manente said the 19-year-old later passed a polygraph test that asked whether he had done anything more than throw one punch in self-defense. Manente said a coroner's report indicated that Elza died because he fell straight back after the 19-year-old's punch and suffered a fatal injury when he hit the back of his head on the parking lot pavement.
In the absence of videotape evidence from the scene or any "independent witnesses," officers had to rely on the coroner's report and the other witnesses, Manente said. Statements taken from "seven or eight" people at the scene corroborated the 19-year-old's account, Manente said, adding that officers couldn't get much information from Elza's friend.
Manente said the golf dome surveillance camera running that night was aimed about 20 feet away from the confrontation, so the tape doesn't show the encounter.
Chuck Morrow, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, has previously detailed other events that occurred before and after the 19-year-old threw his punch, but had refused to discuss the 19-year-old's involvement, citing legal ethics.
Others convicted
Morrow has said that Riehl and Brian Charles, now 22, received probation in their plea agreements on misdemeanor convictions because neither one did anything of an "assaultive" nature to Elza. He said Charles dared Riehl to get into the car as a practical joke, and Riehl got in. Charles was convicted of criminal trespass and menacing. Riehl was convicted of inciting to violence.
A third man, Roberto Dubelt, now 22, was convicted of assault and sentenced to 25 weeks in jail. Morrow said Dubelt did hit Elza twice, but explained that the blows did not lead to Elza's death. Morrow said that a coroner's report indicated Elza suffered a fatal "hinge fracture" to his skull and that the fracture did not come from Dubelt's blows.
"Dubelt stated [Elza] was a decent size and he was afraid he was going to get up," Manente said, adding that his interpretation of the coroner's investigation is that Dubelt "hit a dead guy."
Another witness to the confrontation between Elza and the men said Elza threw a "real slow, wild punch" at the 19-year-old. He said the 19-year-old punched back "out of reaction" and that Elza stumbled and fell after that.
Alcohol consumption
Morrow said Elza had a high enough blood-alcohol level to possibly cause him to lose his balance easily the night he died. Riehl told investigators in his videotaped statement that he had consumed around 10 beers that evening, most of it at a friend's house in Girard as they watched a football game on television and played cards. Riehl said he consumed some of those beers inside the golf dome that evening after sneaking them in. The 19-year told investigators he hadn't had much to drink that night because he was supposed to work at 10 a.m. Nov. 6.
Manente said he investigated whether underage drinking had occurred and forwarded information to the Ohio Department of Liquor Control. That resulted in an investigation by the Ohio Investigative Unit of the Ohio Department of Public Safety on Jan. 7, 2006, in which investigators found that the golf dome had sold alcoholic beverages to two people under age 21 that night at 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m.
The business paid a fine for the offenses, said Scott Pohlman, deputy director of the Ohio Investigative Unit.
A civil lawsuit filed by Tracy L. Elza, Kevin Elza's widow and administrator of his estate is pending in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court against Dubelt, Charles, Riehl and Creekside Golf Dome. She seeks more than $50,000 in compensatory and punitive damages from the defendants.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
A 19-year-old city man told police he tried to help a friend get out of a jam at closing time outside a bar, was...
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