Freak accident injures Poland band member

A fellow band member
described the injured boy as a very nice person.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

POLAND — An accident involving a riding lawn mower and the lid from a can of chewing tobacco left a senior at Poland Seminary High School with a fractured skull.

Superintendent Dr. Robert Zorn said that a summer worker at the school was finishing mowing grass around the school as band members emerged from the building about 11 a.m. Thursday.

The mower struck the lid from a snuff can, throwing it 224 feet — where it struck Mark DeMartino, 18, a senior who plays trumpet.

The boy was transported to St. Elizabeth Health Center where he underwent surgery Thursday afternoon for a fractured skull. He was in stable condition at the hospital Friday night.

The boy’s family couldn’t be reached.

Sam Wallace, a senior at the school who plays saxophone, said the mood was somber Friday at band rehearsal.

“All of our thoughts are with him and his family,” Wallace said.

He described DeMartino as a “very nice person.”

Wallace was at the school when the freak accident happened.

He saw people running and then saw DeMartino trying to sit up.

“People were saying that something hit him,” Wallace said.

Zorn went to the hospital both Thursday and Friday.

“My heart just goes out to the young boy and his family,” Zorn said.

Conducting investigation

The school district is investigating, talking to witnesses and the lawn crew about what they saw.

When an accident happens, the district tries to determine exactly what occurred and then attempts to develop a strategy to ensure that it doesn’t happen again, the superintendent said.

“That’s the hard part in this case because it’s such a fluke thing,” he said.

Members of the boy’s family told Zorn that DeMartino was talking and moving his limbs.

“He was concerned about tickets he had to a concert and wanted to make sure that someone would use the tickets,” the superintendent said. “Those are good signs. I’m just praying for his full recovery.”

Emergency personnel from Western Reserve Joint Fire District responded to the scene. Police weren’t called and there’s no police report of the accident.