Police officer facing charges

Mercy Health worker accused of OVI, drug paraphernalia offenses

LIBERTY -- A Mercy Health police officer was arraigned Wednesday in Girard Municipal Court on traffic and misdemeanor drug paraphernalia charges connected to a traffic stop the day before at a major Liberty intersection.

Kasey Conricote, 28, of Canfield, pleaded not guilty to charges of OVI, open container and possession of drug paraphernalia before Judge Jeffrey Adler, who released Conricote on a personal bond. One condition of his bond is that the defendant submit to drug and alcohol testing three times per week. His vehicle also was ordered immobilized.

Conricote will appear again before Adler for a pretrial hearing July 6, court records show.

A Mercy Health spokeswoman confirmed Conricote is employed as an officer for the hospital system's police department, but would not comment further. The Jackson Township Police Department website also lists Conricote as an officer.

According to a Liberty police report, officers were dispatched about 7:25 p.m. Tuesday to Belmont Avenue and Churchill Hubbard Road to investigate a report of a man slumped over the steering wheel of a gray 2021 Toyota Tacoma.

Officers arrived to find the vehicle still running and the gear shift in the drive position, the report states.

The driver, later identified as Conricote, was found slumped over with his foot still on the brake, and drooling with his face having a bluish color, the report states.

With the help of Liberty Fire Department personnel, officers broke the front passenger side window to get into the locked Toyota. The report states the driver did not wake up until he was hit with glass from the broken window.

Fire department personnel administered a dose of the opioid reversal drug naxolone to Conricote.

When questioned by officers, the driver acknowledged he had snorted and smoked "boy," a common street name for heroin, the report states.

While the driver was taken by gurney to an ambulance, officers noticed multiple open containers of an alcoholic beverage inside the Toyota. Also found was a rolled-up $20 bill, a small plastic bag with an unknown white substance, and another unknown white substance was found wrapped in paper in the center console cup holder.

Conricote was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital for treatment, the report states. At the hospital, the driver refused to submit to a urine test. Because of the refusal, Conricote's driver's license and motorcycle endorsement were automatically suspended, the report states.

The white substances were sent to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation lab for further testing. More charges may be pending after lab results have been submitted to police, the report states.

gvogrin@tribtoday.com