YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A Warren man who reports said told police he rammed his car into another at a West Side gas station because he felt threatened when the driver pulled a gun during a traffic dispute is now in the Mahoning County jail.
James Koehn, 40, is in the Mahoning County jail on three counts of felonious assault. He is expected to be arraigned Wednesday in municipal court.
Although Koehn is accused of ramming another car at a driver who said he had a gun when they argued, the victim in the case said he saw a woman in Koehn’s car pass a gun to him. However, police never found a gun in Koehn’s car.
According to a police report, officers were called about 11:50 a.m. to a 1 North Meridian Road gas station, where police saw a car in the parking lot with a damaged front door and both airbags deployed. Reports said a man next to the car told police “I don’t know how I’m still alive. He just ran his car right into me.” There was also a female passenger in the car, reports said.
Reports said the man told police he was pulling into the lot when he met a car driven by Koehn and let him into traffic, but the two men exchanged words.
The man told police Koehn pulled back into the parking lot and followed him. The man told police he thought he saw a woman in Koehn’s car pass him a gun, reports said.
According to the police report, the man then grabbed his own gun and told Koehn: “You have a gun and so do I. I have a license to have mine and you are not going to shoot me.”
Reports said Koehn then backed his car up and hit the car of a woman who was pumping gas. Then, he put his car in gear and hit the car of the man he was arguing with. The man pointed his gun and Koehn drove away east on Mahoning Avenue, reports said.
Police found the car at Mahoning and South Schenley avenues and pulled it over. Reports said Koehn told police he rammed into the man’s car because he felt threatened by the man’s gun.
Police noted the front end of Koehn’s car was damaged, but they did not find a gun when they searched his car, reports said.
Koehn told police he did not remember backing up and hitting another car.