Motorist seriously injured by rock thrown from overpass
Anne Warfield
Minister in serious condition; teen charged in I-70 rock throwing
By Samantha Sommer
Cox News Service
SPRINGFIELD | A 15-year old Harmony Twp. boy was arrested Monday night
and accused of throwing a cantaloupe-sized rock over an Interstate 70
overpass that seriously injured a motorist after it shattered the
windshield.
The boy confessed to throwing two 5- to 7-pound rocks from the
Plattsburg Road bridge, Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly said.
"This was not a prank, this was a crime," Kelly said. "Even a
3-year-old knows you don't do anything like this."
The sheriff's office charged the Northeastern High School student with
two counts of felonious assault and one count of felony vandalism. The
suspect was taken to the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center. The
prosecutor’s office will decide whether to charge him as an adult.
The first rock missed, but the second one crashed the windshield of a
passing car shortly after 1 a.m. Monday, smashing the Rev. Johannes J.
Christian across the bridge of his nose, Kelly said.
Christian, 50, pastor of the Adoration and Peace Baptist Church in
Columbus who works with with a social service agency that serves
troubled adults, remained in serious condition Monday night in the
intensive care unit at Miami Valley Hospital.
Christian and his foster son Brian Renier, 16, were returning from the
baptism of the minister's grandson in Peoria, Ill. They were eastbound
on I-70 toward Columbus, about 5 miles east of Springfield.
Renier told deputies that it looked like Christian's face was gone.
Renier has lived with Christian for about a month after leaving his
father's home in Louisville, Ky. He was asleep in the passenger's seat
when he was awakened by the sound of exploding glass, his father,
Oliver Renier, said Monday from Louisville.
The teen asked Christian if he was OK and when the minister did not
respond, the boy turned toward him and saw that he had been hit,
Oliver Renier said.
Christian had set the car on cruise control, so Renier leaned across
to step on the brake and grab the wheel, steering the burgundy
Cadillac Seville off the right side of the roadway near the exit for
Ohio 41, Oliver Renier said.
"He saved both of their lives," Oliver Renier said of his son. "It was
kind of heroic, what he did."
At 1:17 a.m., Renier called 911 on a cell phone. Out of breath and
upset, he begged the dispatcher for help.
The rock landed next to the driver's seat. Blood had splattered across
the car’s interior and heavily stained a Bible that was tucked into
the driver's seat.
"Oh my God . . . why, why, why?" the teen moaned during the call.
"Lord, save him."
Surgeons worked to clear the minister’s airway, said Tyrone Christian,
the minister’s 28-year-old son, who with other relatives drove to the
hospital from Columbus.
"He'll probably be blind,” Christian said. ". . . Everybody just
thanks God for Brian being with Dad." Brian Renier was going to spend
the weekend in Columbus, but at the last minute decided to go to
Peoria.
"If it wasn't for Brian, we would be burying Dad instead of just
praying for his speedy recovery," Christian said.
Door-to-door interviews led officers to their suspect. A teen-age girl
called the sheriff's office about 2 p.m. to say that some boys told
her what happened. From there, deputies found two boys who said they
spent the night at the suspect’s house and saw him throw the rocks.
They tried to dissuade him from doing it, Kelly said.
The two boys were not charged.
In June, the Ohio Highway Patrol received four reports of rocks thrown
from overpasses in Clark County, said Lt. Mike Marchek of the patrol's
Springfield post.
That information prompted troopers to increase patrols — including
waiting under bridges for someone to launch a rock or other object —
to catch or dissuade people.
"Typically throughout the state, it’s mostly juveniles or younger kids
doing this," he said. "They consider it a joke but are not realizing
the consequences."
Sgt. Jeffrey Dallas of the Xenia post said such reports come in once
every few months. Often times, the post gets the report hours after
the fact.
"Usually we're unable to find anybody," Dallas said. "They're not
going to stand around after they do it."
Statistics were not available Monday night, but Trooper Steve Duteil
of the Dayton post said his post gets about one report a week about
rocks thrown from overpasses.
"It's not like it's rampant," Duteil said "But it's pretty common."
On March 9, A 17-year-old boy who admitted he was "stupid," dropped a
pipe from an overpass onto a car on U.S. 35. The car he picked was
driven by an off-duty parking-enforcement aide, employed by Dayton
police. The pipe struck the front of the car and nearly caused the
driver to lose control. The driver was not injured.
A Montgomery County Juvenile Court magistrate suspended a commitment
to the Department of Youth Services for the boy, but ordered him to
pay as much as $500 for damage he caused, apologize to the driver by
letter, continue pursuing his GED certificate and, after that, pursue
studies toward a trade under the Partnership for Youth.
In February 2000, a 20-year-old Huber Heights man threw a rock from a
highway overpass through the windshield of an Ohio Highway Patrol
cruiser. He was sentenced to a year in prison for vandalism.
Bret A. Fuller was also given five years on probation for felonious
assault and ordered to pay $660 in restitution.
Trooper Robert Hilderbrandt, 22, was treated at Greene Memorial
Hospital for an eye injury after the incident on Interstate 675 near
U.S. 35.
Most counties — including Montgomery County — have fences that extend
upward from overpasses to prevent objects from being thrown, he said.
Clark County remains one of the few counties without such fencing. The
county or the state, depending on who owns the road, has to erect the
fences, Marchek said.
"It is something we will look into," he said.
Staff writers Joy Heselton and Samantha Sommer and Amelia Robinson
contributed. Heselton and Sommer write for the Springfield News-Sun.
Robinson writes for the Dayton Daily News.
http://www.activedayton.com/partners/ddn/local/0710attack.html
--
Anne Warfield
indigoace at goodsol period com
http://www.goodsol.com/cats/
Anne Warfield
Clark County teen suspect may face adult court for throwing rock onto
highway
Driver struck has lost eyesight
By Samantha Sommer
Cox News Service
SPRINGFIELD | The Clark County prosecutor wants to try as an adult the
15-year-old Harmony Twp. boy accused of throwing a cantaloupe-sized
rock off an interstate overpass and seriously injuring a motorist.
Jacob C. McNary of 1572 Fletcher Pike is accused of tossing two 5- to
7-pound rocks over the Plattsburg Road overpass, which crosses
Interstate 70 between U.S. 40 and Ohio 41, early Monday.
The first rock didn't damage anything, but the second crashed through
the windshield of the Rev. Johannes J. Christian’s Cadillac Seville
and hit him across the bridge of his nose and his eyes.
Christian, 50, of Columbus remained in serious condition Tuesday night
at Miami Valley Hospital.
Doctors have told his family that he cannot see and most likely will
remain blind.
The family has asked doctors to hold off on discussing his prognosis
and long-term health until the entire family could be present today,
said the minister’s son, Tyrone Christian, also of Columbus.
The medical staff asked the minister not to talk to keep his airways
open and clear, Tyrone said. So he has communicated with his family by
writing notes, nodding and using hand gestures.
He knows a 15-year-old boy has been arrested, his son said.
"He's praying for him," Tyrone Christian said of his father's reaction
to the news.
Christian’s daughter, Vanessa Stuckey from Peoria, Ill., said she was
glad to hear the state was seeking an adult trial. The boy acted
intentionally, she said.
"He knows right from wrong, so he should be tried as an adult," she
said. "Any child knows not to throw a rock."
Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors filed the request to move the case to
adult court.
"This is very serious," said county Prosecutor Stephen Schumaker,
noting that it could take the court a few weeks to decide if the
juvenile should be tried in adult court.
Prosecutors must show that McNary likely committed the crime and also
that he could not be rehabilitated in the juvenile system.
Juvenile Court Magistrate Jane Skogstrom arraigned McNary on Tuesday
afternoon, but did not take a plea from him. She informed him of the
charges, his rights and the possibility of his being tried as an
adult.
McNary was quiet and unemotional at the hearing.
He confessed to authorities Monday evening with his parents present,
county Sheriff Gene Kelly said. A tip from a friend who heard what
happened led deputies to the boy.
Stephen and Rebecca McNary said they and their three other children
were in shock. Their son is a good child, they said.
"We are just trying to hold our family together," Stephen McNary said.
The McNary boy and two of his friends, who had come to sleep over,
were supposed to be playing in the yard early Monday, Rebecca McNary
said.
Instead, the three rode their bicycles to the overpass where McNary is
accused of tossing the rocks over the wall about 1 a.m.
One of the boys with him, his 15-year-old cousin Jesse Boyd, said he
and the others tried to stop McNary.
"We told him it was stupid, that someone could get hurt," he said. "We
should have stopped him, grabbed him or did something more."
McNary is not a violent person, Boyd said. Before leaving the house
that night, the three were hanging out and listening to the radio.
Boyd characterized McNary as quiet and unemotional, a person who likes
to ride his bicycle, play drums and listen to heavy metal music.
Galen Boyd, Jesse's father, said he never dreamed his nephew could do
something violent like this.
"He's always been a good kid, but I do think he needs some
professional help," Boyd said.
http://www.activedayton.com/partners/ddn/local/0711rockfolo.html
GLC1173
>SPRINGFIELD | The Clark County >prosecutor wants to try as an adult the
>15-year-old Harmony Twp. boy accused of >throwing a cantaloupe-sized
>rock off an interstate overpass and >seriously injuring a motorist.
Wanna bet this never makes the front page of any "mainstream" local daily
outside of the state it happened in?
Why? Because "killer kids" doesn't fit the liberal agenda when they use
rocks!
(Know a true Gary Condit story involving the Hell's Angels? <a
href="mailto:edi...@netpath.net">Email this paper!</a>)
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Dan Hartung
glc...@aol.com says...
> Anne quoted Cox News Service:
> >SPRINGFIELD | The Clark County >prosecutor wants to try as an adult the
> >15-year-old Harmony Twp. boy accused of >throwing a cantaloupe-sized
> >rock off an interstate overpass and >seriously injuring a motorist.
>
> Wanna bet this never makes the front page of any "mainstream" local daily
> outside of the state it happened in?
> Why? Because "killer kids" doesn't fit the liberal agenda when they use
> rocks!
If the man had died, it would get more coverage. You think liberals
SUPPORT kids throwing rocks at cars? Go to K-mart and buy some more brain
cells. The ones you have are running low.
--
Dan Hartung * dan [at] dhartung [dot] com
Lake Effect weblog: http://www.lakefx.nu/
CHICAGOSTORIES: post yours @ chicagostories.org