Former Ohio State offensive lineman Kirk Barton has been charged with aggravated vehicular manslaughter after a fatal car accident in Dublin, Ohio.
According to NBC4, Barton was driving a pickup truck at a high rate of speed when he struck another vehicle on West Bridge Street in Dublin around 3 a.m. Saturday morning. The driver of the vehicle that was hit, 24-year-old Ethan Perry, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Kirk Barton’s mugshot from his arrest. (Photo: Franklin County Sheriff’s Office)
Barton suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was released from Riverside Methodist Hospital into police custody.
According to Franklin County Municipal Court records, Barton faces a second-degree felony charge of aggravated vehicular homicide/manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence. If convicted, Barton faces a mandatory minimum prison term of two to eight years.
Barton will be arraigned in Franklin County Municipal Court at 9 a.m. Monday.
Barton played for Ohio State from 2003-07, earning All-American honors as the Buckeyes’ right tackle in 2007.
It’s not the first time Barton has been in trouble with the law. In 2018, Barton was charged with felonious assault on a police officer and resisting arrest following an incident at The Bogey Inn in which Barton slammed a taxi van door into an officer’s arm.
Barton is the co-founder of the website Buckeye Scoop. Barton and Buckeye Scoop have been banned from covering Ohio State events in person since 2021, when Ohio State found that Buckeye Scoop used unauthorized access to practice footage to report on the football team.
