Defense attorney Steven A. Stickles questions St. Clair Township Detective Sgt. Scott Mick during a trial for Salvatore Scarafile (seated, right), in a reckless operation case as prosecutor Katelyn Dickey reviews her notes. Scarafile reportedly handed Mick his Steubenville police identification along with his license when pulled over in Calcutta. (Photo by Jo Ann Bobby-Gilbert)

EAST LIVERPOOL — A St. Clair Township police detective was grilled on the witness stand in East Liverpool Municipal Court this week during a trial for a man who identified himself as a police officer when stopped.

Detective Sgt. Scott Mick was the only witness called for the prosecution in the case of Salvatore M. Scarafile, 29, Parkway, who is charged with reckless operation.

Scarafile was charged Dec. 17 after Mick reported he was pulling from a private drive at 11:36 a.m. when he heard a motor rev as a vehicle began to accelerate and looked up to see a truck accelerating west on state Route 170 through Calcutta.

On the witness stand, Mick was asked by prosecutor Katelyn Dickey to recount the events of that night, and he said the truck traveled at a high rate of speed, saying, “The further it got, the faster it got,” changing lane to lane and passing slower traffic as he began to follow it.

Mick said the turn signals were not being used as the truck switched lanes, then it stopped at a red light before continuing on with him following in the cruiser, his lights and siren activated, finally turning into the entrance to the Giant Eagle plaza.

According to Mick, there was a large cloud of dust from the salt and debris on the roadway being kicked up from the accelerating truck, which he said was not being caused by any other vehicles on that stretch of roadway.

“Traffic was very heavy. There are multiple businesses. There is a lot of traffic that time of day,” Mick testified, adding there are traffic accidents on a weekly basis on that strip.

Mick went on to testify that, when he approached the truck, the driver leaned out the window and said, “Sorry, sarge, I (messed) up. I was driving too fast. Yes, I was driving too fast,” then handed him his driver’s license and his identification as a Steubenville police officer.

Mick testified, “I didn’t recognize him until then,” saying as soon as he saw Scarafile, he recognized him from prior incidents.

According to Mick, Scarafile “got a little upset” when told he was being charged with reckless operation, arguing that while he may have been speeding, he was using his turn signals.

“I told him we weren’t having court alongside of the road,” Mick testified.

He also testified that Scarafile asked him a couple questions about “me not liking him,” and Mick said, “I explained I had no personal issues with him, handed him his ticket and we split ways.”

Defense attorney Steven A. Stickles questioned Mick’s use of the term “private drive” in describing the McDonald’s driveway he was sitting in when he first reported hearing Scarafile’s truck accelerating, also asking how many vehicles were between his cruiser and the truck when he pulled out.

When Mick said he didn’t know, Stickles asked, “So you pulled out without looking left?” but Mick replied, “Of course I looked left and right before making an unsafe turn onto state Route 170.”

Stickles asked if there were any vehicles directly between the cruiser and the truck while traveling on state Route 170, and Mick said he could not provide an exact number.

Stickles established that Mick had no dash cam or radar in the cruiser, saying, “At no time are you able to tell me how fast you were traveling?” and Mick said he could not.

Asked if he cited Scarafile for speeding, Mick said, “I had no radar, I wasn’t pacing him,” saying Scarafile told him he was traveling 50 mph in the 40 mph zone.

Asked how many tickets he has written per year during his 18 years with St. Clair Township Police Department, Mick estimated between 50 and 100, with “probably a fair amount” of those on state Route 170.

Asked if there was any “ill will or bad blood” between him and the defendant, Mick said, “No, I’ve only dealt with him in law enforcement issues,” testifying later under cross examination by Dickey that those incidents were domestic cases involving Scarafile and his girlfriend.

The defense attorney asked Mick if he had spoken to any witnesses since the Dec. 17 traffic event and was told he had.

Stickler asked Mick how many times he has spoken to the media regarding minor misdemeanor cases, and the officer said he did not know.

“Would you say zero?” Stickler asked, adding, “I’ll take your silence as ‘zero’,” when Mick failed to reply.

Dickey rested the state’s case after questioning Mick, without calling Detective Greg Smith, who also responded to the scene the night of the arrest, or another lay witness that caused Stickles some consternation.

Prior to the trial’s startup, Stickles told Judge Melissa Byers Emmerling his office had received a fax Feb. 21 with a statement made by the lay witness dated Jan. 24, saying it took the witness, who was reportedly seated in KFC at the time of the traffic stop, more than two weeks to report what she saw and then took more than six weeks for her statement to be turned over to him by the prosecution.

“I don’t want her excluded (as a witness); I want to talk to her. It seems awful convenient a lay person doesn’t go (to police) for two and a half weeks and then it sits in a file for six and a half weeks. Something just doesn’t sit (right) with me,” Stickles told the judge.

Byers Emmerling said she also had not been aware of the late arriving witness statement.

Dickey said she was unsure if she would call the witness anyway.

The judge said since the two officers had been subpoenaed and her court had been cleared all afternoon for the trial, the state’s case would move forward and, if necessary to allow the defense time to question the lay witness, it would be continued.

The judge offered to call a recess, to allow Stickles time to meet with the witness at that point, but he declined.

Once Mick was questioned by both Dickey and Stickles, and Dickey rested her case, Byers Emmerling continued the trial until 2:30 p.m. March 12, with Mick subject to recall for additional questioning.

Scarafile, who was formerly a police officer in both Wellsville and Liverpool Township, was sworn in by the Steubenville Police Department in October. It is unclear if this case has had an impact on his position there; a call left Thursday with the department has not yet been returned.