CLEVELAND — A Wayne County first responder was fatally struck in a crash while assisting another driver at the side of a road in West Salem Friday night, troopers said. 

Lieutenant Paul Charles Mickolick, a firefighter-paramedic with the Town and Country Fire District, arrived around 10:40 p.m. to help a driver who had gotten their pickup truck stuck in a ditch while exiting a private field on the west side of Stratton Road, according to a release from the Ohio State Highway Patrol. 

According to troopers, Mickolick, 43, arrived at the scene in his personal vehicle and parked on the west side of the road near the pickup truck. 

Troopers say a “short time later, a report came in of a two-vehicle crash at that same location.” 

A car driven by a 64-year-old West Salem man was driving south on Stratton Road when he drove off the right side of the road into the ditch, striking the pickup truck and its driver as well as Mickolick. 

Both Mickolick and the pickup truck driver were taken to a hospital by ground transport. The pickup truck driver was airlifted by helicopter to an Akron hospital with “serious injuries,” troopers said. 

Mickolick was pronounced dead as a result of his injuries.

According to the OSHP, Mickolick worked as a flight paramedic with the Cleveland Clinic prior to joining the Town and Country Fire District full-time in 2022.

The fatal crash remains under investigation.