YOUNGSTOWN — Damian J. Cessna, 26, shot multiple times by a police officer on South Avenue in Boardman in 2021, pleaded guilty Monday to felonious assault and will be sentenced later.

Cessna was scheduled for trial Monday but pleaded guilty to the first-degree felony in exchange for charges of felony obstructing official business and misdemeanor aggravated menacing being dismissed.

Cessna remains free on bond and will be sentenced at 9 a.m Aug. 25. Prosecutors said they will recommend that Cessna get a period of incarceration deemed appropriate by the judge, Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Cessna quietly answered the many questions from the judge Monday, such as whether he understood the consequences of his plea. Cessna could get about 11 years in prison, but he also could get no prison time, the judge explained.

Cessna suffered multiple gunshot wounds when he was shot by a Boardman officer at 1 a.m. July 13, 2021, near Mathews Road. Boardman police said the shooting occurred after an officer spotted Cessna on a bicycle and stopped him for suspicious activity, including riding on the wrong side of the road at night, said Boardman police Chief Todd Werth.

When the officer approached, Cessna held a knife in his hand and came toward the officer, a police report states. Cessna also had a baseball bat. The officer gave “repeated commands to drop the knife before he discharged his weapon,” Werth said. “The officer feared for his life.”

Police administered first aid to Cessna at the scene until an ambulance took him to the hospital.

Werth said in August 2021 that a department internal affairs investigation determined that Officer Evan Beil’s actions were “reasonable and appropriate based upon the circumstances he faced during his interaction with Mr. Cessna.” Beil has been with the department since November 2014.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which is under the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, carried out an investigation of the shooting after a request from Werth. Mahoning County Prosecutor Gina DeGenova said Monday she cannot comment on the findings of the BCI investigation until after Cessna is sentenced in August. The Ohio Attorney General’s Office likewise said it could not release any information.

erunyan@vindy.com