Man killed in alleged Dublin OVI crash remembered
DUBLIN, Ohio (WCMH) - A 24-year-old killed in an early morning crash in Dublin is being remembered as a gentleman and "little brother" figure.
Ethan Perry was killed around 3 a.m. Saturday on West Bridge Street, just west of Franklin Street in Dublin.
Benjamin Woods is a friend of Perry, who called him a "little brother" even though Perry had no siblings.
"He always spoke, you know, about his grandmother,” Woods said. “He always spoke about his mother and his cousins and his family in Cleveland. We all lost our friend. But he got a mom, he got grandma, he got family, right? I just know this is a nightmare.”
Woods had only known Perry for about six years, but the impact Perry had on his life will last much longer.
"It was Christmas,” Woods said. “His mom was living out of state. His family was in Cleveland. And, I think something was wrong with his car.” He didn't want to let the young Perry down, so on the unseasonably warm Christmas Day, he got him up and raised his spirits.
"’You can't miss Christmas. Get up bro,’ right?” Woods continued. “It's 65 degrees outside. We about to ride.”
The two bonded over motorcycles and cars, but Perry also loved to entertain. He was an aspiring YouTuber with more than 300 subscribers already.
"Documenting his life, yeah, you know?” Woods said. “A little quirky, a little dry, corny, just dancing, like, just stuff like that.”
That's exactly what Perry was doing on Friday night.
"He was going home on a Friday night to work on his dream, already had went and put in his 50 hour work week,” Woods said. “It's a Friday night, and he just said, 'I'm going home. I want to give me some takeout, and I'm going home to edit all this content that we, that he, worked on.’"
Perry never made it home to work on editing his content for YouTube. His car was crushed after a truck ran into the stopped vehicle.
Kirk Barton, 40, has been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, a second-degree felony. Barton was an All-American offensive lineman for Ohio State from 2003-2007. Barton now has a blog and podcast called Buckeye Scoop, where he covers mostly Ohio State football.
According to multiple social media posts from Buckeye Scoop, Barton was scheduled to make an appearance at Fender's Bar and Grill in Westerville Friday night to promote Buckeye Scoop.
NBC4 stopped by the bar on Sunday and talked to the owner. The owner said Barton was scheduled to be there, but was not there Friday night for the meet and greet.
Woods, missing his friend, had this to say to the alleged driver.
"Just take a Uber, bro,” he said. “You hurt somebody. You hurt a lot of people. You took somebody, you know? I mean, he's 24 years old. He's not going to get to raise a family. Not I'm not going to get to make grandkids. For his mom.”
Woods' message for his friend Ethan Perry, "The world could use more people like you, you know, always the world could use more people like him. And it's just too sad. He was, he's a gift. I'm saying it was a gift in my life for a lot of years. This is rough. I just wish, you know, we all do. I wish we could at least just say, hey, man, I appreciate you, love you."