Driver found guilty in Glendale Avenue crash that killed 2

5/16/2006
BY MARK REITER
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Mick
Mick

A Toledo man whose blood-alcohol content was nearly six times the legal limit when he killed a woman and her daughter in a multivehicle accident on Glendale Avenue entered into a plea agreement yesterday to reduced charges.

Michael R. Mick, 50, of 1044 Kinder Rd., pleaded no contest in Lucas County Common Pleas Court to two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.

Marilyn Williams, 68, and her daughter, Dorothy Williams, 37, were killed July 29 when Mick's westbound Honda Accord went left of center and into the eastbound lanes of Glendale near Heatherton Drive in South Toledo.

The two victims were passengers in a car driven by another of Mrs. Williams' daughters, Stacy Williams, who was hurt in the five-vehicle pileup that occurred about 7:15 p.m., shortly after Mick had been drinking at a South Toledo restaurant.

He collided first with a sport utility vehicle and then with the Williams' car, which was struck on the right front. It ended up in a westbound lane of Glendale as a result of the collision, where it was struck again by a westbound car.

Authorities said blood drawn from Mick at Medical University of Ohio Medical Center showed that his blood-alcohol content was 0.46 percent, nearly six times the legal limit of 0.08 percent for a motorist in Ohio.

"This is one of the most egregious blood-alcohol levels that our office has ever seen,'' Ian English, an assistant county prosecutor, said during the hearing.

Mick faces a possible 10-year prison sentence for the deaths of the two women. Judge Charles Wittenberg, who accepted the no-contest pleas and found Mick guilty, will sentence him on June 23.

Mick, who was convicted in 1996 in Toledo Municipal Court of driving under the influence, will also lose his license to drive in Ohio for a period of three years to life.

Many of the surviving seven children of Mrs. Williams were in the courtroom. Some of them wiped tears from their eyes.

Judge Wittenberg moved the proceeding to a larger courtroom to accommodate the overflow crowd of relatives, including grandchildren, nieces, and nephews of the victims.

Prosecutors said before the accident that Mick was at the South End Grill, 5105 Glendale Ave., where patrons and a waitress observed him stumbling and falling into tables.

Mr. English told Judge Wittenberg that a patron who was concerned about his condition and the safety of others warned Mick not to drive when he left the restaurant. He also said witnesses saw Mick nearly strike a vehicle as he was driving out of the parking lot.

Mr. English said a motorist later observed Mick drive through a red light on Glendale at the intersection with Byrne Road, and that his eastbound car struck an orange construction barrel as he went through the intersection.

The witnesses, Mr. English said, saw Mick pull into a parking lot at a shopping complex near the intersection, and that he left, again running a red light as he headed west on Glendale. The fatal accident occurred minutes later.

Mr. English said a reconstruction of the accident indicated that Mick was driving 53 mph in a 40 mph zone.

The victims' family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Common Pleas Court against Mick and unnamed establishments that may have served alcoholic beverages to him before the accident. Judge Denise Ann Dartt, who is handling that case, has not set a trial date.

Contact Mark Reiter at:

markreiter@theblade.com

or 419-213-2134.