A first responder is dead after he was struck by a vehicle while on the scene of another crash, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Just before 10:40 p.m. on Friday, Lieutenant Paul Charles Mickolick with the Town and County Fire District responded to Stratton Road in Wooster after a vehicle, driven by a 33-year-old man, had gotten stuck in a ditch, OSHP said.
A short time later, a 64-year-old man who was driving a 2006 Cadillac CTS southbound on Stratton Road drove off the right side of the road into the ditch, striking Mickolick and the 33-year-old, OSHP said.
Both Mickolick and the 33-year-old were transported to a nearby hospital. Mickolick was pronounced dead Saturday morning, Town and County Fire District said.
After being transported, the 33-year-old was flown by helicopter to Akron General with serious injuries, OSHP said.
Mickolick was a 43-year-old lieutenant at the Town and Country Fire District. He was hired in 2022 as a firefighter paramedic. Prior to his time with the fire district, Mickolick spent 16 years as a flight paramedic with the Cleveland Clinic, Town and Country Fire District said.
Saturday afternoon, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine ordered flags to be lowered in honor of Mickolick and sent the following statement:
In honor of the life and service of Town and Country Fire District Lieutenant Paul Charles Mickolick, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has ordered that the flags of the United States and the state of Ohio to be flown at half-staff upon all public buildings and grounds throughout Wayne County, the Ohio Statehouse, the Vern Riffe Center, and the Rhodes State Office Tower today, and will remain until sunset on the day of his funeral.
All other public buildings and grounds throughout the state may fly the flags of the United States and the state of Ohio at half-staff at their discretion for the same time period.
The crash remains under investigation.
