Teen could lose sight in one eye
Lawyer hired after prom party injury
Never mind 20/20 vision, doctors tell him he’s lucky he still has the eye.
A teenager and his family have retained a lawyer after he suffered a serious eye injury June 13 at a wild, drunken after-prom bash — attended by as many as 2,000 partiers — where five people were also stabbed.
Eric Merschback, 18, has been told he might never regain sight in his right eye after glass from a busted bottle flew into his eye.
“When I heard it, at first I’m angry,” said Dan Derikozis, Eric’s father. “I want to find out who did this. But it’s impossible. With the 1,000 or more kids that could have been at this party, I don’t think they’ll ever find out.”
Windsor police received a complaint around 1: 30 a. m. June 13 about a large party with underage drinking at 9076 County Rd. 42. As officers were arriving, a second call came in about a possible stabbing. There were actually five people stabbed. None of the injuries were life-threatening.
Along with the victims, police found up to 2,000 people, many of them drunk, crowded onto the poorly lit property. Many young people were so drunk they were either vomiting or needed help walking.
Eric Merschback, who didn’t want to be interviewed, was also injured in the chaos. Someone threw a bottle. It smashed against a pole and tiny shards of glass ricocheted into his eye.
“A bunch of pieces must have hit him because his face is all cut up too,” said Derikozis. “But the most significant injury is a slash going right across Eric’s eyeball.”
A specialist had to stitch his eyeball back together.
“Then they put a lens over top of it so he can blink without disturbing the cornea,” said Derikozis.
The doctor told Eric he was lucky he still has the eyeball.
“It was so severely cut that all the stuff behind it was oozing out,” said Eric’s grandmother Marie Merschback.
Eric still can’t see out of the eye. There’s no guarantee he ever will.
Surgery is scheduled for the end of July to clean out some debris.
During that procedure, the surgeon will also put the retina back where it’s supposed to be.
Down the road, a lens implant and a cornea transplant are possible.
“The real question becomes how does something like this happen,” said injury lawyer Gino Paciocco. “We know there are a lot of kids at an event like this that went unsupervised. There were no bag checks, there were no waivers signed.”
He added that there was no security at the party, which people paid $25 or $30 to attend. There was also no lighting, so students were stumbling around in the dark.
“There was just nothing done,” said Paciocco.
“If that’s the case and you’re charging a cover charge, you’re profiting from the event but you’re not ensuring their safety. That just can’t happen.”
Paciocco said his investiga- tion into what happened is just beginning.
“That’s the purpose of conducting the investigation, to get the information,” he said. “We’re not pointing any fingers yet, until we have all the facts.”
Property owner Bhagwant Singh was less diplomatic when contacted Wednesday by The Star.
After lashing out for media coverage giving his property a “bad name,” he placed the blame of what happened on those who rented the land from him, though he said he couldn’t remember their names.
“The host of the party had promised there would be no more than 500 kids and there would be no alcohol,” said Singh.
“They were the ones who arranged everything. We just rented the property. They were the ones to arrange security. Everything was their responsibility.”