PERRYSBURG – Seat belts save lives.
Just ask Perrysburg Police Chief Patrick Jones, who walked away from a crash earlier this year.
If he had not been wearing his seat belt, he would have gone through the windshield, he said at a surprise gathering Tuesday when he was presented with a Saved by the Belt award.
The irony was just three days earlier, he spoke at Mercy Health in Perrysburg about the importance of seat belts.
“I stood up there and said we don’t like it when we have to go tell the families their loved ones were seriously hurt or killed in a crash,” Jones said.
“I encourage everybody (to buckle up) because when you hit a full-size pickup truck at 55 mph, chances of surviving are (slim),” he said.
The crash occurred May 19 at 1:15 p.m. at the angled intersection of Ohio 105 and U.S. 23 in Freedom Township.
A 26-year-old Elmore woman was traveling eastbound on Route 105 and stopped at the stop sign.
She paused then pulled into the intersection and was struck by Jones, who was southbound on Route 23.
“That is not the way you want to beat the chief,” said Sandy Wiechman, coordinator for Safe Communities of Wood County.
Jones said he saw a white pickup truck stop at the stop sign and then pull out in front of him. He barely had time to touch the brakes.
His department-issued 2020 Ford Explorer struck the woman’s truck at the driver’s side door.
The woman was driving a 2021 Chevy Silverado, which spun off the road. If she had been driving something smaller, it could have turned out much worse for her, Jones said.
Both drivers suffered only minor injuries.
There’s no doubt that he would probably have gone through the windshield had he not been wearing a seat belt, Jones said.
He said he was bruised from where the seat belt was and some burns from the airbags.
He said he believes he passed out after the crash.
Perrysburg Lt. Rich Cartwright said he responded to the scene, where he found Jones pretty dazed.
“He was wearing a seatbelt and I think all of the airbags went off. That definitely saved him,” Cartwright said.
Cartwright, who has been on the force for 14 years, said Jones is a fantastic police chief. The two men worked together as detectives before being promoted to their current ranks.
Jones has been with the force for 19 years and has served as chief for 4.5 years.
“You are living proof that seatbelts do save lives,” said Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn while presenting the award.
“We want people to see even a police chief wears a safety belt and even a police chief can be involved in a serious crash,” he said. “People think I’m a good driver and I’m going to be careful, but sometimes the other person makes a serious error.”
Wasylyshyn said he has done many death notifications, and unfortunately some of them could have been prevented if the person had been wearing their seatbelt.
“I tell my kids every time they get in the car to buckle up,” Jones said.
Wiechman said she aims for one Saved by the Belt presentation every year.
Awards are usually presented in May, during the Click It or Ticket campaign, “but this was special,” she said.
