Charge filed in fatal Labor Day crash

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

PAULDING — Court records have been unsealed in the case of a Paulding woman accused of hitting and killing a 12-year-old boy on Labor Day.

Cynthia Switzer, 46, was arrested at her home by deputies without incident and was booked into the Paulding County Jail on Friday, October 13, then posted an unspecified bond the following day, according to Paulding County Sheriff Jason K. Landers.

Court records show Switzer was indicted by a grand jury on a single count of aggravated vehicular homicide, a second degree felony. Court documents also show a blood alcohol test showed Switzer was under the influence and was more than three times over the legal limit, .272.

The charge is tied to the September 4 accident that occurred on County Road 103 south of County Road 124 in Paulding Township. According to the Van Wert Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Switzer’s 2017 Chrysler Pacifica struck a bicycle operated by Ross Erwin Myers from behind. Myers was thrown from the bicycle and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Paulding County Prosecutor Joseph Burkhard did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

In another development, a different court document shows Paulding County Common Pleas Court Judge Tiffany Beckman is recusing herself from the case due to an unspecified conflict of interest. Ohio Supreme Court Justice Sharon Kennedy assigned retired Wood County Judge Reeve W. Kelsey to preside over the case.