GOSHEN TWP., Ohio -- A Goshen grandfather stands accused of operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs and alcohol after he crashed his car while driving his 6-year-old grandson to school.
According to witnesses at the scene, Dennis Plavsic, 53, came flying down Garden Drive Wednesday morning and slammed into a concrete flowerpot on the median. Police who investigated the crash arrested him for child endangering and OVI -- his fourth arrest on the latter charge.
“It was right after the bus had left,” said Sheilah Pertuset, who had just seen her daughter off for her second day of kindergarten when the crash occurred. “We were still standing there, and this guy just went around the corner flying, lost control. If it was just a little bit earlier, it would have been horrendous.”
Pertuset said Plavsic looked disoriented at the scene, and she saw Plavsic’s grandson crying after the accident.
“He was so tiny,” she said. “It makes me want to cry. It’s sad. It’s just sad."
Plavsic, however, said Wednesday night that the crash was a ‘freak accident’ and that he was not under the influence of any drugs or alcohol when it happened. According to him, he only crashed because he was checking on his grandson in the back seat.
“Always, before I go out on the main road, I make sure he still has his seatbelt on him … so I looked back there, and by the time I turned around, I hit the concrete thing out front,” he said.
Plavsic said police tried to do a breathalyzer test, but he has never been able to complete one because of trouble with his lungs.
