LIME CITY – Perrysburg Township police have begun a criminal investigation involving a crash in which
four people were rescued from a ditch as their car filled with water Thursday.
Just before 7 p.m. police received a report from a passerby that a 1998 Chevy Cavalier driven by Andrea
MacRitchie, Toledo, had crashed into a ditch near the soccer fields on Ohio 199 south of Eckel Junction
Road. Township police and fire personnel responded to the scene.
The vehicle was found overturned and partially submerged in the water-filled ditch, and the four
occupants were trapped, including two young children.
According to the investigative report, "the occupants of the car, including the toddler children,
were submerged in the freezing water that had filled the interior of the car." One of the officers
on-scene broke the rear passenger window and rescued the two children, identified as Bryce Johnson, 5,
and Madison Johnson, 4. MacRitchie and the children’s mother, Jodi Carter, Toledo, were also rescued.

An adult male, whose name has not been released pending investigation of the incident, had exited the
vehicle on his own power and was "standing on the roadside offering no aid to the remaining trapped
occupants," according to the report.
MacRitchie reported that the five of them were returning from a relative’s house. Carter and the male
engaged in an argument in the vehicle and the male reportedly threatened to crash the car after
MacRitchie entered the argument. He jerked the wheel, and MacRitchie then lost control of the vehicle,
at which time the vehicle crashed into the ditch.
The male maintains that he did not touch the wheel and that MacRitchie "just overcorrected."

According to statements in the report, alcohol may have been a factor in the incident.
The passengers were taken to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center, Toledo, for treatment of their injuries.
According to the report, Bryce and Madison Carter each sustained cuts and bruises as well as glass
embedded in their heads. Bryce also sustained a broken clavicle. Officers had not been able to speak to
Carter at the time of the report due to the extent of her injuries.
The name of the passerby who initially reported the incident was not available at press time.