×

Suspect turns self in after assault at WRTA bus station

YOUNGSTOWN — Semaj Barlow-McElvaine, 19, will be arraigned today in Youngstown Municipal Court on felonious assault in a July 12 incident at the Western Reserve Transit Authority bus station, 340 W. Federal St. downtown. He is accused of punching a man in the head, causing him to fall unconscious onto the concrete.

A Youngstown police report states that McElvaine turned himself in at the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office on Monday on a warrant through Youngstown Municipal Court on felonious assault. If convicted, Barlow-McElvaine could get about eight years in prison.

The report states that on July 12, officers were sent to the bus station for an investigation and spoke with security personnel, who were standing by with the victim. Security personnel stated that a young male wearing all white punched the victim and that a female with red braids was with the suspect. They both fled east on West Federal Street.

An officer tried to speak with the victim, but he was “in so much pain he could not say much,” the report states. The right side of his jaw was “very swollen and he had a knot between his (eye) brows.” Officers checked the downtown area but did not find them. One officer was advised that “the female was there” and directed to a bus stall, where he found the female with her hood up on a sunny and 90-degree day, the report states.

The woman later identified herself and said she did not know the male who struck the other male, the report states, adding that the woman was “very uncooperative.” She was issued a trespassing warning from the WRTA property.

The officer was then approached by a female who said she was looking for her father, the assault victim. She said her father called and advised her that the woman the officer had just spoken to was harassing him.

The victim’s daughter said she had been having trouble with the other woman about two years ago in which her father separated the two women during a physical altercation, the report states.

The victim’s daughter was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital to see her father. The officer tried again to speak to the victim, but he was “still in immense pain and unable to give me a statement,” the report states. The officer said the victim’s injuries were on his head. An officer went to the hospital and took photos of the injuries, the report states.

The bus station had a photo of the suspect, who was 17 to 19 years old with medium black dread locks, a white T-shirt and white pants and red or orange “Yeazy” flip flop sandals. Video surveillance showed the suspect and the woman approaching the victim and the suspect then “throws one left handed punch to (the victim’s) head, rendering him unconscious and falling to the concrete.”

Starting at $3.23/week.

Subscribe Today