Eleven days ago Tuesday, along a stretch of Wilson Avenue on Youngstown's East Side, paraplegic Willie Daniel said the truck he was riding in slid off the road and hit a pole.
The driver went for help.
A passing tow truck driver called police saying Daniel asked him not to call police. The driver also said he thought Daniel had a gun in the vehicle, but according to reports no firearm was ever found.
The cops arrived and Daniel said what happened next was his worst nightmare.
"As he was coming up he said shut ... up," he said. "He slapped handcuffs on me, reached in the car and punched me in the mouth."
Daniel said Officer Robert Jolliff then ordered him out of the car.
"I told him I couldn't walk," Daniel said. "He snatched me and threw me down in front of the police cruiser on Wilson Avenue in the street, in the snow and my pants were down I was was in the snow in my pamper."
A few minutes later, Daniel's wife, Pam arrived.
"I seen him with his pants down, and I asked why he was in the street like that and the officer said because he told him that he had a gun," Pam Daniel said. "I said no way my husband told you that, he was paralyzed by a gun, he didn't tell you he had no gun."
Daniel, who said he wasn't driving, is facing charges of OVI and driving under suspension.
"We want to make a complete investigation, we don't want to rush to judgment and make an allegation and find out later to be wrong," said Youngstown police Chief Jimmy Hughes.
The department declined a public records request to release the internal report.
