Mark Dodez will never be a cop again.
The 33-year-old former Springfield Township police officer, sitting in front of the witness stand in a wheelchair Tuesday, told a Summit County jury it was a job he loved — a “calling” he said he felt to help people in a small town.
A lot of cops feel the same way, working with townsfolk daily, he said, “to know their problems, their families, their kids.”
“I always wanted that interaction with people,” Dodez told the jury in a calm, measured voice.
He has only limited movement now in his left leg, he said, and slightly better movement in his right.
The doctors who worked on his severe spinal injury have given him the long-term pronouncement he dreaded.
“No, I’ll never be able to be a cop again,” Dodez told the jury.
The man accused of leaving him in that condition, Michael G. Plemons of Doylestown, was sitting only a few feet away in a dark blue shirt and striped tie. He is charged with aggravated vehicular assault and other alleged offenses.
The trial is in its third day in Common Pleas Judge Alison McCarty’s court.
Trial testimony has shown that Plemons, who turns 35 today, was charged with his fourth DUI in the March 31 incident.
His 2004 Chevrolet Silverado, with the driver-side headlight out, allegedly crossed the center line into the northbound lane of South Arlington Road, striking Dodez as he was walking back toward his police cruiser moments after looking for suspected contraband on the side of the road.
It was 8:20 at night near the Mash Oil gas station, with no street lights illuminating the roadway.
According to police reports at the time of the collision, Plemons’ blood-alcohol content was 0.289 percent – more than three times the limit deemed by the state to be considered intoxicated.
Plemons also is facing a felony charge of hit-skip, one misdemeanor count of weaving and two counts of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Dodez told the jury that he and another Springfield Township officer, Tom Hinerman, were in the northbound lane of Arlington, “checking the traffic coming at me to make sure we didn’t miss anything,” when the collision occurred.
“After that, I don’t remember anything,” Dodez said.
Except for one detail.
“I remember waking up in the road with the fire department there — just bits and pieces,” Dodez said.
The officer was in the hospital for 106 days.
After an hour on the witness stand, Dodez left the courtroom through a side door to the judge’s office, but returned minutes later in his wheelchair to the front of the courtroom gallery to listen to the rest of the proceedings.
Seated behind him were his wife of seven years, Lisa, his mother, Barb, his father and two brothers.
The family sat there quietly throughout, giving encouraging nods and smiles to Dodez on the witness stand, and they showed no signs of animosity toward Plemons.
Hinerman, who was with Dodez that night, testified that the collision occurred only seconds after he and Dodez had given up the search for suspected contraband thrown from the window of another vehicle.
They were in the northbound lane of Arlington, one to two feet from the center line, Hinerman said.
Neither officer was wearing his assigned luminescent jacket.
“I tapped him on the shoulder, said, ‘Let’s get out of here,’ turned around, took two steps and heard a bang. Mark came [flying] by me on my right side, face down on the ground,” Hinerman told the jury.
The collision was so violent, Dodez’ badge was torn off his dark blue uniform.
Dodez, who has two children, ages 3 and 5, is on disability retirement income, undergoing therapy that he said could take as long as two years.
“The way they explained it to me,” he said, “I’ll probably never be out of a [wheel]chair.”
Under Ohio’s new sentencing laws, the most serious charge facing Plemons is a third-degree felony usually carrying a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
However, because he was indicted for causing serious physical harm to the former officer, the maximum penalty is enhanced to five years.
Closing arguments are tentatively scheduled for early this evening, with jury deliberations expected to carry into Thursday.