Article published November 06, 2009
Ottawa Hills shooting victim readjusts with help of friends
Michael McCloskey is paralyzed from the waist down and endures painful therapy.
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THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH
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By ERICA BLAKE
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Michael McCloskey can't talk much about his new life but it's clear from the ramps outside his home and the way he has to adjust his now nonfunctioning legs that life is devastatingly different for the 25-year-old man.
Paralyzed from the waist down since he was shot May 23 at a traffic stop in Ottawa Hills, Mr. McCloskey has undergone medical procedures and painful therapy sessions, his civil attorney said.
Yesterday, in his first public statement since the incident, Mr. McCloskey declined to talk about the criminal charges filed against the officer who is accused of shooting him and about the civil lawsuit filed on his behalf against the officer and the village. Instead, he thanked the medical staff and friends who helped him in his attempts to start rebuilding his life.
"Their care and professionalism not only saved my life but gave me hope to recover and live a new life," he wrote in a statement. "They deserve more than the words 'thank you' and need to be recognized."
Mr. McCloskey then listed the staff in Toledo Hospital that attended to his injury and the man who bought him the $4,250 wheelchair that he uses to move.
"You will always be my special friends. And I'm proud to be yours," he said.Now weighing about 150 pounds, Mr. McCloskey said yesterday that he has lost about 100 pounds since the incident. Using his hands to wheel himself around his mother's Toledo living room, Mr. McCloskey said he's been told that he "can never stop therapy." Taped to the back of his chair was a sign, "A blood donor saved my life."
"I worked out all the time," he said of his former self. "I was really into athletics and working out."
Charged with the shooting is Thomas White, 27, a part-time dispatcher and part-time police officer for the village. Officer White was charged with felonious assault with a gun specification and faces up to 11 years in prison if convicted.
No trial date has been. Officer White will appear again before Judge Gary Cook on Nov. 18.
According to Ottawa Hills police reports, the incident began just after 2 a.m., when officers initiated the stop of two motorcyclists after what was described as a short pursuit down Indian Road near Central Avenue.
Mr. McCloskey, who said he'd been living in Ottawa Hills for about eight months, has not been charged in the incident. A fellow motorcyclist, Aaron Snyder, 35, of Toledo, was arrested without incident and charged with drunken driving and failure to comply.
Mr. Snyder's case is pending in Toledo Municipal Court.
The investigation of the incident immediately was turned over to the Ohio attorney general's office, which forwarded its report to the Lucas County prosecutor's office. Officer White was indicted July 2 by a grand jury on the felony assault charge and first appeared in court two weeks later. He remains on medical leave.
Jerry Phillips, an attorney who is representing Officer White, said yesterday that with his not guilty plea to the charge, his client is refuting the felonious assault charge. He said that although Officer White had interacted with Mr. McCloskey in the past, "he did not know who he was" at the time of the incident.
The interaction involved Officer White issuing a ticket to someone at the home where Mr. McCloskey lived and was living at the time he was shot, Mr. Phillips said. He added that he is still receiving evidence and that a trial date likely will be set soon.
On hold until the criminal case concludes is a lawsuit filed June 3 in U.S. District Court in Toledo by Michigan attorney Geoffrey Fieger. The lawsuit, filed against Officer White and the village, alleges that the officer involved "made an unreasonable seizure" and assaulted Mr. McCloskey "by unnecessarily and illegally shooting him in the back, which severed his spine resulting in paralysis."
Also alleged is that the officers involved failed to provide Mr. McCloskey adequate medical attention when they failed to help him as he lay on the ground with the running motorcycle on top of him.
In August, Judge David Katz granted the village's motion to stay the civil proceedings pending the outcome of the criminal case. He ordered that the village provide the court with updates on the criminal case every other month.
Attorney Arnie Matusz, a member of the Fieger law firm, said Mr. McCloskey has cleared the amputation threat for his right leg, an allegation contained in the lawsuit. But he said Mr. McCloskey is still embroiled in a life of pain and treatment, details of which will one day be shared.
"It'll be for the rest of his life," he said.
Contact Erica Blake at:
eblake@theblade.com
or 419-213-2134.
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