Staff photo / Ed Runyan Semaj Barlow-McElvaine, 20, pleaded guilty to felonious assault Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to felonious assault in a July 12 incident at the Western Reserve Transit Authority bus station downtown. Barlow-McElvaine punched a man, causing him to fall unconscious onto the concrete.

YOUNGSTOWN — Semaj Barlow-McElvaine, 20, of Falls Avenue, pleaded guilty to felonious assault Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court regarding a July 12 incident at the Western Reserve Transit Authority bus station in which he punched a man in the head, causing the victim to fall unconscious onto the concrete.

Mahoning County prosecutors and the defense jointly recommended Barlow-Mclvaine get two to three years in prison when he is sentenced later. He has been in the Mahoning County jail since July 28, 2025, according to jail records.

A Youngstown police report states that McElvaine turned himself in July 28 at the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant for felonious assault through Youngstown Municipal Court.

The report states that on July 12, Youngstown police officers were sent to the WRTA bus station, 340 W. Federal St. downtown, for an investigation and spoke with security personnel, who were with the victim.

Security personnel said that a young man wearing all white punched the victim and that a woman with red braids was with the suspect.

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 the suspect or woman.

One officer was advised that “the female was there” at the bus station and directed the officer to a bus stall, where he found the woman with her hood up on a sunny, 90-degree day, the report states.

The woman later identified herself and said she did not know the man who struck the other man, 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 woman who said she was looking for her father, the assault victim. She said her father called and said the woman the officer had just spoken with was the person harassing him.

The victim’s daughter said she had been having trouble with the 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 with 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 took photos of the injuries.

The bus station had a photo of the suspect, who was 17 to 19 years old with medium black dreadlocks, a white T-shirt and white pants, and red or orange “Yeezy” 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,” the report states.