News-Record.com

GREENSBORO — Michael Parks, who is wanted on a felony charge connected to a crash that left 12-year-old Drew Gardner seriously injured, is actively avoiding arrest, according to police.

“He knows he’s wanted,” Cpl. L.G. LaBoard said. “He’s avoiding us.”

Police say Parks ran a stop sign on South Lindell Road on Nov. 11, then drove off the road and down a ravine, hitting Drew, who was playing in the ravine with his friend, Taylor Rhynehardt.

Parks was charged with driving while impaired and was admitted to Wesley Long Hospital for his injuries. Police sent a sample of his blood to the State Bureau of Investigation for analysis, but Parks was not taken into custody.

On Friday, Parks was charged with aggravated felony injury by motor vehicle in connection with the accident.

Police said although Parks is at large, officers acted appropriately after the accident.

“If it had been a felony paper, we would have stood guard,” Assistant Chief Harold Scott said. “Usually misdemeanors, we try to use discretion, and we serve them when they get out of the hospital.”

Officers have gone to Parks’ house day and night and have asked neighbors to call if they see any movement there. Police have looked for him at an aunt’s house in Burlington and have begun checking for him in bars, LaBoard said.

She also said she had Guilford County Animal Control seize Parks’ dogs, which may have been left outside since Friday.

In the meantime, Drew Gardner has been moved from the intensive care unit of Brenner Children’s Hospital in Winston-Salem.

He is free of tubes that had been helping him breathe and eat, according to his mother’s online journal postings.

Megan Gardner, a nurse, expects her son to be hospitalized for weeks more, she said.

She has been writing detailed daily journal entries updating Drew’s condition on Caringbridge.com, a Web site that hosts blogs for the families of people hospitalized with serious injuries or illness.

The first word Gardner got from a man who had a role in saving Drew’s life was through the guest page of the Web site: “Hi Drew this is the gentleman that pulled your face out of the creek and stayed with you until EMS arrived,” Jerry Cartwright posted Sunday.

Cartwright was driving up South Lindell Street on the afternoon of the crash when he saw two people with a “panicked look in their eyes,” he said.

He stopped his car to find out what was wrong and saw the van.

Then, he noticed a boy on his knees in the creek, crying and saying: “My friend is dead.”

The boy, Taylor Rhynehardt, was kneeling next to Drew, who was face down in the water.

“If he was alive, he was drowning,” Cartwright said.

Cartwright lifted Drew’s head and was startled when the boy started gasping for air.

Scared that moving him would cause more damage, Cartwright stayed with Drew and held his head above the muddy water.

He and Taylor tried to encourage Drew, Cartwright said, telling him: “Come on Drew, stay with us. It will be OK. Stay with us.”

Drew’s breath was getting weaker by the time police and emergency medical workers arrived to help, Cartwright said.

“I think most people who rode up on that would do the same thing,” Cartwright said. “It was just my turn.”

Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or sonja.elmquist@news-record.com