YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown Law Director Jeff Limbian said the city will do what it can to “rectify” the false charge filed against Youngstown State University student Ezell Brown.

A mother’s persistence in tracking down evidence cleared her son.

“The city will do what it can to rectify it and make this young man as whole as possible,” Limbian said of Brown’s Oct. 14 felony arrest at Andrews Avenue and Valley Street, a short distance from the University Courtyard Apartments on the YSU campus. Brown, 18, was accused of being one of three young men who stole a bicycle.

But last week, when asked about it by The Vindicator, Limbian stated emphatically that a surveillance video Brown’s mother secured and delivered to prosecutors “showed he was definitely not one of the perpetrators.”

In an interview, Youngstown police Detective Jeff Kay said Brown was arrested after being falsely identified by the victim of the bicycle theft. In fact, Brown was the victim of a theft and not the perpetrator of any crime, Kay said.

The Youngstown Police Department now said it believes it has identified all three juveniles who committed the bicycle robbery. Charges against one of them are pending, Kay said.

And the Youngstown State University Police Department has now filed information with the Mahoning County juvenile prosecutor for charges against the three teens, accusing them of stealing Brown’s backpack.

NIGHT IN QUESTION

Brown, of Youngstown, was charged with aggravated robbery and taken to the Mahoning County Justice Center on Oct. 14 after the victim of a bicycle theft identified Brown and two juveniles as the males who robbed him around 7:30 p.m. near the Youngstown Public Library, 305 Wick Ave.

One of the three males threatened to shoot the victim of the bicycle theft — a man, 22 — if he didn’t give up the bicycle. One of them rode away on it as the two others followed on foot, the victim told Youngstown police.

Later, YSU police advised Youngstown police they had detained three males at Andrews Avenue and Valley Street — with a bicycle matching the description of the stolen one.

Youngstown police had the victim stay in the police cruiser, and he was asked whether the three males at the scene were the ones who had robbed him.

The victim said: “That’s them and there’s my bike,” according to a Youngstown police report.

When asked how confident he was in his identification, the victim said it was “for sure them.”

Brown and the two juveniles were taken into custody.

The two juveniles were wearing clothing in the colors the victim had given for the robbers. Brown was wearing gray clothing. The victim of the bike robbery described the third suspect as wearing silver.

The YSU police report states when its officers encountered the three males, Brown had “flailed both arms in the air and advised that he was just robbed and began to run northbound” behind two other males. YSU police ordered Brown and one of the others onto the ground at gunpoint. The third male got away. A male whose clothing was not described “arrived back at the scene a short time later riding a bicycle” and was detained, YSU’s police report states.

Brown was arraigned the next day in Youngstown Municipal Court, and he was released from jail after his family posted $15,000 bond.

MOM’S ACTIONS

Brown’s mother, Michelle Ezell-Brown, later posted a 10-minute video on Facebook to explain that her son had been playing basketball at the University Courtyard basketball courts that evening by himself when three males with a bicycle approached and asked if they could play.

While he played basketball with one of the three, the one on the bicycle reached down and took Brown’s book bag and all three took off.

“My son caught up with one of the kids and snatched him up,” Michelle Ezell-Brown said. A second teen came back and offered to take Brown to the male on the bike with Brown’s book bag, so they started to walk.

“As they are walking, my son sees YSU’s police department. He sees a cruiser, so he flags the cruiser down. He tells the cruiser, ‘These kids just robbed me. They took my bag with my wallet and phone in it.'”

That’s when Youngstown police arrived with the bike-robbery victim in the cruiser. About that time, the teen on the bicycle came back and police arrested him, Michelle Ezell-Brown said.

Brown and the two juveniles were sitting on the curb as the bike-theft victim identified them as the robbers.

A YSU police officer was attempting to speak to Brown before Youngstown police took him away, but a Youngstown police officer asked her to stop, Michelle Ezell-Brown said. In an interview with The Vindicator, Brown said: “The kids told (YSU police) they took my bag.”

“I took it upon myself to do YPD’s job,” Michelle Ezell-Brown said. She went to the University Courtyard apartments and obtained surveillance video.

“It clearly showed my son was in the dorm with his girlfriend at the time of the robbery,” and it “clearly showed” the theft of Brown’s book bag on the Courtyard basketball court and Ezell Brown running after the three, she said.

STILL QUESTIONS

Michelle Ezell-Brown wants to know why Youngstown police did not obtain surveillance video from the library or Courtyard apartments, question her son or ask YSU police for more information.

She said the situation makes it look like a young black male “is guilty until proven innocent. Well, that’s what happened in my case because I had to prove my son’s innocence.”

Michelle Ezell-Brown took the video to detective Kay at Youngstown police, who took it to Kathy Thompson, assistant city prosecutor. She and Limbian agreed to “immediately dismiss the charge,” Limbian said.

“She told me the video confirmed he was not involved in the crime,” Limbian said of Thompson, adding that the city will “work with them to seal the records” to minimize the harm that could come to Brown from the false arrest.

“We’re going to do what we have to do to make it right from the city’s standpoint,” Limbian said. “They will certainly be reimbursed for that.”

Kay said having two police departments involved in this case made it “harder than normal.” He said he won’t “Monday morning quarterback our officers” as to what they did or didn’t do to ensure they were arresting the right people, adding: “I was not there.”

The duty to obtain surveillance videos and conduct those types of followups is shared by patrol officers and detectives, Kay said.

“The victim (of the bicycle theft) made an incorrect identification,” Kay said, adding that he cannot comment on every aspect of the case because there is still an open investigation involving the three juveniles.

Youngstown police Chief Robin Lees did not reply to several messages left for him last week, but on Friday he responded to an email by saying he needed to talk to Kay and reply next week. Among the questions is whether any officers will face discipline.

YSU police officer Adam Skovira, who investigated the case for his department, said he has not heard yet whether the three males have been officially charged in juvenile court with the backpack theft.

The two juveniles arrested the day of the offenses are ages 14 and 15. The third male is 15. Skovira said he does not know whether the YSU officers at the scene suspected Brown might be innocent.

Skovira and YSU Lt. Randall Williams both said they had no comment on what happened to Brown.

erunyan@tribtoday.com