Police help boy, 5, deal with trauma of crash

Perrysburg Township officers David Molter, left, and Joe Ball, right, were among those who helped Bryce Johnson, 5, center, get new glasses from Walmart after he was in a car wreck caused by another passenger. PERRYSBURG TWP POLICE Enlarge

Five-year-old Bryce Johnson had just gotten new eyeglasses, blue metal frames to complement his eyes that might be blue today and green tomorrow, depending on his mood.

That same day -- Nov. 17 -- just hours later, the Sylvania Township youngster found himself suspended upside down in his booster seat, his head inches away from icy-cold water rapidly rushing into the car. His new wire-rimmed glasses were gone, destroyed.

His sister, Madison, had fallen out of her booster seat and into the freezing water that had started filling the vehicle.

Their mother, Jodi Carter, 26, was injured beside them, as was her friend, Andrea MacRitchie of Toledo, the driver of the car that had just veered off the road and overturned into a water-filled ditch along State Rt. 199 near Perrysburg.

A fifth person in the vehicle that day, Michael Garczynski, 34, of Toledo, was accused of intentionally causing the crash.

Now home and recovering, the family of three and their friend, Ms. MacRitchie, are having a hard time erasing the nightmare of that day. But a kind gesture this week by Perrysburg Township police and the Walmart in Perrysburg -- new glasses for Bryce and a gift card for Christmas -- helped ease the pain.

"A little holiday good coming out of a tragic incident," said Officer Joe Ball, the lead investigator on the case and the catalyst behind the good deed. He called the Perrysburg Walmart and explained the situation to a manager there, who agreed to contribute $150.

Officer Ball took up a collection among his fellow officers and came up with another $185.

On Tuesday they went to the store, where Bryce picked out new glasses -- this time, thicker black frames with a thin decorative red line through them.

The glasses cost $117, so the rest of the money was placed on a Walmart gift card for the family's Christmas shopping.

"This means so much," Ms. Carter said Wednesday afternoon, her voice cracking. "When Officer Ball told me he had money left over for Christmas, I was so thankful. I had to take two weeks off work [because of the accident], and now my kids can have a Christmas."

When the family arrived at the Walmart optical center Tuesday, they were met by a large group of police officers. Bryce was shy at first, his mom said, but it didn't take long for him to open up.

"He really likes officers -- he tells me he wants to be a firefighter when he grows up," Ms. Carter said. "I never thought anything like [the crash] would ever happen to me.

"To have an officer put a hand out and help, it was the best feeling in the world."

On the day of the accident, Ms. MacRitchie was northbound on Route 199 just south of Eckel Junction Road about 6:50 p.m. when, police say, Garczynski grabbed the steering wheel and jerked it during an argument.

"He allegedly made a statement asking the occupants of the car if they wanted to die and he pushed the steering wheel, causing the car to veer out of control and then the car flipped into a ditch, upside down on its top," Officer Ball said.

The vehicle landed in about four feet of water of the eight-foot deep ditch.

When police arrived, they broke out the rear passenger-side window and pulled the children out. Officer Ball wrote in his initial report that a male passenger "had gotten himself out of the car and was standing on the roadside offering no aid to the remaining trapped occupants."

The two women and two children were admitted to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center -- both women with broken ribs, Ms. Carter a concussion, and the children with bruises, soreness, and broken glass embedded in their heads.

For Bryce, the biggest obstacle had been his extremely poor vision and the loss of his eyeglasses.

"The poor kid was back to not being able to see right," his mom said.

Garczynski, described by Officer Ball as an acquaintance of Ms. Carter and Ms. MacRitchie, was also transported to the hospital for observation but left before police could arrest him.

He is wanted on warrants for two counts of felonious assault and two counts of endangering children the police department issued on the advice of the Wood County Prosecutor's Office.

In 1997, Garczynski was convicted of felonious assault and failing to comply with an officer's orders by a Wood County Common Pleas Court jury for trying to run down a Perrysburg police officer the previous December.

An initial prison sentence of seven to 25 years was reduced by the Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals to six to 15 years because of a clerical error on a verdict form.

Contact Roberta Redfern at: rredfern@theblade.com or 419-724-6081.