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Warren man indicted on six charges

Accused of assaulting city officer

WARREN — A repeat violent offender who is accused of robbing a Niles jewelry store, assaulting a Warren police officer and being involved in a hit-skip accident was indicted last week by a Trumbull County grand jury on multiple felony charges.

Erick A. Rivers Jr., 31, Scott Street NE, has been charged with aggravated robbery and four counts of felonious assault, all carrying a repeat violent offender specification, and felony vandalism.

Rivers was to be arraigned last week before Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Cynthia W. Rice, but Rivers was unavailable because he was at a behavioral health facility after Rivers’ attorney requested a competency evaluation.

The case involves a series of incidents involving Rivers on Dec. 5, 2024. He is accused of stealing about $200 from the Instant Cash of Gold in Niles. The police report states the robber picked up a chair in the business to use as a weapon.

Later the same day, Rivers allegedly attacked a Warren police officer on the Northwest Bridge in Warren Township. The officer, who was working at the nearby Giant Eagle, was responding to a traffic accident at Northwest Bridge Road and Mahoning Avenue NW. The officer sustained injuries, and reports showed that two citizens helped the injured officer apprehend Rivers. Police body camera video shows the man swinging a pole, striking the officer.

Also on the same day, reports state Rivers’ vehicle slammed into a car with three occupants in a rear-end, hit-skip traffic crash on Hazelwood Avenue SE in Warren.

Records show that in 2014, Rivers was convicted of first-degree aggravated burglary with a firearm specification, and he was given a four-year prison term by Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Ronald J. Rice.

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