Former Ohio State football standout Kirk Barton is facing a second-degree felony charge of aggravated vehicular homicide after an incident that left one man dead in Dublin. According to a NBC4i report, police allege Barton was operating a Ford F150 Raptor pickup truck "at a high rate of speed" before entering Historic Dublin and colliding with a Lexus on Saturday morning, just before 3 a.m.
The collision, occurring on U.S. 33 and West Bridge Street, just west of Franklin Street, resulted in the death of Ethan Perry, aged 24. Barton, now 40 and a resident of Lewis Center, supposedly was driving on the wrong side of the road prior to the crash, as per city authorities. Dublin Police also reported that his speech was slurred and an "odor of alcohol" emanated from his breath post-accident. Court documents, cited by WLWT, indicate Barton admitted to having consumed alcohol before the crash. He was unable to answer basic questions at the scene.
Barton was taken into custody following his release from a local hospital, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. According to The Columbus Dispatch, this is not Barton's first encounter with traffic-related offenses, as court records show a history of such incidents. The former lineman, who played for Ohio State between 2003 and 2007 and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in 2008, is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday at 9 a.m.
The aftermath of the tragic event led to a temporary closure of the local roadways, including West Bridge Street and North High Street, as well as parts of State Route 161 and Riverside Drive roundabout. They were subsequently reopened around 10:15 a.m. The community of Dublin and the larger Ohio State family now grapple with the stark reminder of how quickly fortunes can turn and lives can be irreversibly altered on our roads. Barton's arraignment seeks to not just openly account for the actions leading up to the crash, but also perhaps to offer some semblance of justice to Perry's bereaved family.
