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Tractor driver facing charges

Man drives through Liberty with kids riding in the bucket

LIBERTY — A man pleaded not guilty to child endangerment charges in Girard Municipal Court after police spotted someone driving children around in the front bucket of a tractor, according to police and court records.

French Humphrey, 33, Staunton Drive, Youngstown, is scheduled to appear Aug. 12 before Judge Jeffrey Adler for a hearing. He pleaded not guilty in June to child endangerment, driving without a license plate and reckless operation, according to court records.

A police officer observing “extremely busy” afternoon traffic 3:55 p.m. June 5 saw an orange Kubota tractor traveling east on Motor Inn Drive with two small children, 7 and 8, sitting in the front bucket with “their legs hanging over the edge swinging. The children were not restrained in any manner, had no headgear or helmets on and were only dressed in shorts and T-shirts,” according to the Liberty police report.

The tractor turned onto the sidewalk at Belmont Avenue, crossed Liberty Street and went back onto the sidewalk, and then proceeded off the sidewalk onto Belmont Avenue, diagonally across the road into the turning lane and then turned left onto Catherine Street, where the police officer stopped the tractor, according to the report.

The man driving the tractor told police he drove the tractor from his home on Staunton Drive to the Speedway gas station because he did not have a diesel fuel can. The tractor had no license plate and no flashing hazard lights, the report states.

While the officer was filling out traffic citations and a criminal summons, the man’s wife and the mother of the children drove up, the report states. When a tow truck showed up to take the tractor, the man began objecting to the tow and yelled at police officers.

When the officer went back to the police department, the mother of the children came to the station and argued the tractor should not have been impounded, referring to a section in the Ohio Revised Code; she was advised to speak to the traffic magistrate, the report states.

The police report was sent to Trumbull County Children Services.

news@tribtoday.com

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