BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — The family of 60-year-old Michael Szabo was in shock Sunday, a day after the Bowling Green native was struck and killed while riding his bicycle.
"I just don't understand it. I'm still trying to grasp how this could happen," said Jeff Szabo, Michael's older brother. "He was riding his bike on a sidewalk, half a block from home."
Authorities said Michael was riding his bike around 2 p.m. Saturday when James Patrick Lindsay, 54, from Dunbridge, allegedly drove off onto the sidewalk near South Main and Pearl streets, striking Szabo and killing him.
Lindsay has been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide and is in the Wood County Jail.
"He was pretty much the glue for the family," said his brother.
Michael Szabo, who lives in Columbus, was visiting their 85-year-old mother in Bowling Green, as he did every weekend. His mother has multiple sclerosis and other health problems, Jeff Szabo said.
"He'd come home every weekend and take her to church," Jeff Szabo said. "And go to the grocery store for her."
Jeff Szabo said he believes his brother may have been riding his bike Saturday afternoon to help run errands for the family, or he might have just been enjoying the bicycle he bought just three weeks prior to the incident.
Jeff said another one of his brothers had to tell their mother of Mike's death.
"I told him I was coming over there cause I didn't want him to do it by himself," Jeff said. "But he was in the back of the house on the phone and I just heard her scream 'Not Mike!"
The Szabos said Michael had a huge heart, was kind, and loved to help people. A BGSU alum, Michael was looking forward to meeting his great-niece, Jeff Szabo said.
"My daughter took grandma, which is mom, over there to see the baby on Thursday, and they called him on the phone," he said. "He was excited to see the baby. He never got the chance to."
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