News briefs from July 7, 2008

July 07, 2008 01:29 am

— Cops: Man found dead in hot tub had been drinking
SANDY CREEK TOWNSHIP – The Meadville man who was found dead Saturday morning in a hot tub in Sandy Creek Township had been drinking at a Fourth of July party, state police said.
Timothy W. Boura, 31, was at the party at 574 Lake Road and had been left alone in the hot tub for a short time when he was found unresponsive, face down in it, police said.
Boura was pronounced dead at 5:55 a.m. by Mercer County Deputy Coroner John Libonati. An autopsy performed by Eric Vey, an Erie County forensic pathologist, found foul play wasn’t involved.
The official cause of death is pending toxicology reports, which could take 6 weeks to compile, Libonati said.
2 fires keep Transfer volunteers busy
PYMATUNING TOWNSHIP – Firefighters were busy late Saturday night and early Sunday morning after small fires in an apartment kitchen and outside a trailer, Transfer Fire Chief Phil Steele said.
The kitchen fire started at about 10 p.m. Saturday at Reynolds West Estates. Hot grease caught fire, and when the tenant put it into a sink it caught a garbage disposal on fire.
The tenant was able to stay in the apartment, but there was smoke damage in the kitchen, Steele said.
Then, at about 2:52 a.m. Sunday, an electric line overheated outside a trailer at Lot 88 on Weset 10th Street, sparking plastic that was stored under the trailer.
Pymatuning Township police put it out before firefighters arrived, Steele said, and the trailer wasn’t damaged.
One man cut, two in custody after fight
GREENVILLE – Authorities dispatched to a west side apartment early Saturday morning for a vandalism call found an assault in progress, Greenville-West Salem Township police said.
Police were called to 5. S. High St. after a window was broke out of an apartment. When they arrived, they saw two men beating another man up.
Rick Vlasich, 40, who lived at the apartment, was hit and cut by John Maillous, 37, of 90 Shenango Park Road, Pymatuning Township, and Dustin Richards, 18, of 47 Columbia Ave., Greenville, police said.
Vlasich was treated at UPMC Horizon, Greenville, for cuts to the side of his face and under his chin, police said.
Maillous and Richards were taken into custody. Police didn’t say whether they had been charged, but the report detailing to incident described the assault as an attempted homicide.
Man dies at ‘Thunder’ motorcycle rally
LAWRENCE COUNTY – A 40-year-old Austintown, Ohio, man died at 1:40 a.m. Saturday at Jameson Hospital in New Castle after he was found unconscious at the annual Thunder in the Cascades motorcycle festival in Hickory Township, Lawrence County, state police said.
The cause and manner of Keith D. Freet’s death is being withheld pending an autopsy and toxicology report, police said.