Remembering David Parker

 

A Bright Future

David Parker could easily have gone by the name Peter Parker. However, rather than becoming a fictitious superhero David became a real-life super hero. David had already accomplished a lot by age 26. The all-star athlete, who loved basketball, had been a member of Ohio Wesleyan University’s 1987-88 national NCAA Division III championship team. David also loved teaching and making a difference.

After graduation, he began teaching future athletes as a junior varsity basketball coach at his alma mater, Jonathan Alder High School. To supplement his income, David also worked full-time at Byerly’s Aquarium Shop. David was engaged to the love of his life, Angie Josche. He was looking forward to marrying Angie and having children of his own.

David never could have imagined that after he and Angie arrived home from dinner on a cool November night, his dreams would be shattered forever.

A Senseless Crime

On November 28, 1993, David and Angie arrived at David’s home after dinner and pulled into the driveway. It was about 8 PM, and the tree-lined street was quiet as usual. As David and Angie sat talking in the car, a stranger wearing a hooded sweatshirt and armed with a gun approached the car and pulled open the driver’s door.

The stranger put a gun to David’s neck and demanded money. Angie gave the man three dollars, all the money she had. She also offered the robber her credit cards. David told the armed man his wallet wasn’t on him; it was in a gym bag in the car’s trunk. When the stranger glanced at the house’s window and saw David’s roommate calling the police, he told David, “Get him off the phone.” When the man realized that was impossible, he decided to kill the only witness who could clearly identify him. He shot David Parker in the neck at point-blank range. The bullet went through David’s spinal column and severed David’s spinal cord. The assailant fled, leaving David dying in the driveway.

Beating The Odds

David was rushed to Riverside Methodist Hospital in critical condition. The doctors said he likely would not survive. At best, he would live; however, he would certainly never breathe on his own again. Medical staff told David’s parents that he would likely never walk or use his arms again. David’s family and Angie were not going to give up on David. The hard-working farming family from the small town of Plain City, Ohio, and Angie kept a vigil by David’s side.

Despite the doctor’s prognosis, David slowly began to improve. Initially, David required a ventilator and was unable to speak or move his head. He was paralyzed from the neck down. David spent two months in Riverside Hospital. David eventually was ready to come off his ventilator. The closest hospital that was equipped to handle his transition was over four hours away in Erie, Pennsylvania. David made the four-hour trip and was slowly weaned off the ventilator over a period of four months. After returning to Columbus, David was determined to beat the odds.

Criminal On The Run

Arnold Nichols was a crack cocaine addict who spent much of his life doing drugs and stealing to support his habit. After being paroled in New York in 1993 for selling and possessing cocaine, Nichols violated his parole and absconded to Columbus, Ohio. Once he arrived, it didn’t take long for Nichols to continue his criminal ways.

Once in Ohio, Nichols reconnected with his cousin, Jesse Bannerman. The two went on a mini crime spree to help fund Nichols $100-a-day cocaine habit. First, it was Bannerman’s turn. He approached David and Shirley Rodriguez as they pulled into their driveway. Wearing a hooded sweatshirt, Bannerman held them at gunpoint and robbed them of $58. He also took Mrs. Rodriguez’s driver’s license and her daughter’s library card. Bannerman and Nichols drove two miles away, and then it was Nichols’ turn. Nichols’ crime would result in the shooting of David Parker.

After shooting David Parker, Nichols fled back to New York and turned himself in to the authorities for violating his parole. We believe this may have been a futile attempt by Nichols to establish an alibi.

While Nichols was in New York, Columbus Ohio Police Department investigators never gave up looking for the person who shot David Parker. Knowing the Rodriguez and Parker crimes were connected, they realized that solving one would inevitably solve both. Columbus police officers regularly visited David and showed him hundreds of mugshots without success.

Police caught a break in 1994, 13 months after David was shot. Upon returning to Columbus after Nichols’ release from a New York prison, both Bannerman and Nichols faced questioning for giving a pizza driver a counterfeit $20 bill. While officers were questioning Bannerman, one investigator observed Mrs. Rodriguez’s driver’s license in his possession as he searched for his identification. Both men were arrested after Bannerman failed to explain why he was in possession of the woman’s ID.

The Rodriguezes instantly identified Bannerman as the man who held them at gunpoint. David Parker immediately recognized Nichols as the man who shot him and paralyzed him for life.

Tried And Convicted

In 1996, Arnold Nichols went on trial for shooting and paralyzing David Parker. Nichols tried to claim he was not in Columbus at the time of the shooting. David Parker, who clearly saw the shooter’s face, said differently. In a dramatic courtroom moment, Judge David Cain ordered Nichols to stand in front of David for one minute. The exact time David said it took to commit the crime. David maneuvered his wheelchair with his chin while Nichols walked up to David. David looked at Nichols for one minute. He never flinched or looked away. With 100% certainty, he identified Nichols as the shooter.

The jury had no trouble finding Nichols guilty of two counts of aggravated robbery-for robbing Angie and David; one count of attempted murder; and one count of carrying a weapon under disability (For carrying a gun while on parole). Judge Cain imposed the maximum penalty, sentencing Nichols to 18 to 83 years in prison. That, however, would not be the end of Nichols’ court appearances.

Over the next several years, Arnold Nichols would do everything possible to avoid paying for his crimes. His two appeals forced David, Angie, and their families to endure two more trials. There, they would see the two sides of Arnold Nichols.

In front of the jury, Nichols was polite and quiet, but once they left the room, he became arrogant and hostile. He urinated on and threw feces at guards. Nichols never showed remorse and taught himself how to beat a lie detector test by using countermeasures.

By the third trial, Nichols was frustrated. In a fit of rage, he lunged at the prosecutor, called her a bitch, and told her she would never convict him a third time. Nichols was wrong. Three times Nichols was found guilty by 36 different jurors. After each trial, every juror had the same request: to have the opportunity to meet David Parker.

A Real Life Super Hero

With the support of his family and Angie, David accomplished what many considered impossible. Although paralyzed from the neck down, he regained enough movement to operate his wheelchair using his chin. With this newfound independence, he went to movies and dinners with Angie, attended his tenth high school reunion, and even served as a groomsman at his younger brother Todd’s wedding.

David channeled his passion for helping children into a career as an educator and coach, proving his condition could never limit his impact. After earning a master’s degree in teaching from Wright State University in 2004, he joined the faculty at Jonathan Alder High School as a social studies teacher. He coached basketball right from his wheelchair and founded a board game club for shy students who struggled to make friends. Through every challenge, David never quit. David once said “We like to say we’re not handicapped – just extremely inconvenienced. For the most part, we can do pretty much what we want to do.”

David Parker passed away on January 9, 2011, as a result of his injuries sustained 17 years earlier. More than 1,500 people packed the Jonathan Alder High School gymnasium to pay their respects. Most of the attendees were students who viewed David as both a mentor and a friend. During the remembrance ceremony, numerous current and former students shared stories about the profound impact he had on their lives. Time and again, David’s family and Angie heard tributes such as these:

• “I never would have graduated if it weren’t for Mr. Parker.”
• “Mr. Parker was the reason I got into college.”
• “I was bullied in high school, and Mr. Parker was the only person I could talk to.”
• “I was going through a really tough time, and Mr. Parker helped me through it.”

David Parker was a positive, caring, respected member of society. He touched so many lives and changed them for the better. His memory is cherished by all who knew him.

David’s paralysis and untimely death have shattered the lives of David’s family and friends. David’s parents were his primary caregivers for the rest of his life, assisted by nursing staff, David’s siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.

Although David and Angie never married, they remained close until his death. Angie had never wed, nor did she ever intend to. The plans they had made for a life together were shattered in an instant.