HOWLAND — Former Trumbull County Commissioner Michele “Niki” Frenchko in a Howland police report denied throwing lemons at Trumbull County GOP Secretary Marleah Campbell during a meeting at the Republican Party headquarters, 1195 Niles Cortland Road, earlier this week.

Campbell and several Trumbull GOP officers accused Frenchko of throwing two large lemons at her after Frenchko was told by Campbell to “shut up and let me speak.”

One lemon struck Campbell in the chest and one bounced off the table, according to a Howland Police Department report.

Campbell, according to the police report, picked up one of the lemons as it was rolling off her and held her hand back as if she was going to throw it back at Frenchko, but did not, according to the report.

GOP Chairwoman Julia Shutt, 66, during a police interview, described Frenchko as repeatedly interrupting Campbell as she was speaking.

It was when Campbell asked Frenchko to stop speaking that Frenchko picked up the lemons from a centerpiece on the table, according to the police report.

Frenchko is the party’s auxiliary chair.

“(Niki) threw overhand two large lemons at the upper torso of Marleah C.,” according to the report.

Shutt told Howland police Sgt. Jordan Wert that she told Frenchko, “What you did is assault.”

Shutt described Frenchko recording everyone on her phone and laughing, according to the police report. Everyone then got up from the table and exited the building without speaking to Frenchko, the report noted.

Campbell noted she was not injured by the lemon, according to the report.

Everyone then left the building. They returned after Frenchko left and then called the police.

GOP officers Kathi Creed, 75, Nichole Gorkie, 48, and Cheryl Tennant, 77, gave statements corroborating what Shutt and Campbell stated, according to the police report.

Wert asked Shutt if a video camera in the room was on, according to the report. She responded it was not operating during the meeting.

Frenchko, during a separate police interview with Wert at the Howland Police Department, said she did not throw lemons at Campbell.

“I would never do anything like that — period,” Frenchko said in the police report. “If I was throwing lemons across the table… this far… I would hit you.”

When directly questioned whether she had thrown the lemons, Frenchko responded: “No, no, hell no.”

Frenchko told police that Shutt brought the lemons and “slammed” one in front of her, making her nervous.

She told Wert that she knew cameras were on in the room and they were operational. Frenchko, in the police report, described Shutt as “lying” about the cameras not working.

Frenchko states she has a video showing Stutt stating the cameras were on.

The former commissioner noted that before the alleged altercation with Campbell, she had been attempting to convince the GOP board members to correct an error made in the nomination process of a previous board vote.

Frenchko, in a series of emails between Shutt and herself, said that the nomination of a member to sit on the board of elections was, according to county GOP bylaws, done incorrectly.

Shutt disagreed.

According to the police report, Frenchko believes Shutt wanted her to sign a paper stating she would “accept consensus, be agreeable and not say anything inappropriate.”

Frenchko would not sign the document because she believed Shutt was trying to censor her speech, according to the police report.

She described the party not wanting to call a meeting to re-do the vote, and they were embarrassed.

“The whole party, the officers, refused to correct the vote so I had to do that myself,” Frenchko said in the report.

Frenchko, in the police report, said it was then that officers at the meeting became mad at her and “began screaming like psychos,” which stemmed from an argument about the earlier vote.

Howland police did not file assault charges against Frenchko. Campbell was told she would have to file a report with the Warren city prosecutor.