HURON COUNTY, Ohio — Two years ago, Belinda Walker’s son was killed by a drunk driver.
“I think of Ryan every day, every minute of every day,” said Walker.
All she has left of her youngest son are memories and pictures.
“It’s hard. It’s a struggle to go to bed. Do you think I sleep? No. It’s a struggle to get up,” explained Walker.
That struggle started on Sept. 4, 2022. Ryan Walker and three of his best friends were headed back to Bowling Green State University. That’s when police said a drunk driver crashed into the college kid’s car; Ryan was killed, and the others were injured.
The heartbroken mother said that day she was handed a life sentence without her son.
“We’re going to live on this earth without Ryan. It can’t get no worse than that,” she said.
Earlier this month, almost two years to the day, a jury convicted that driver on eight of the nine charges. The repeat OVI offender could have received 18 years, but a Sandusky County judge sentenced the 44-year-old driver to 9 years behind bars minus time served.
“We are not only mourning the loss of our precious Ryan but we are mourning the loss of a just and impartial sentence,” she added.
“Justice was not served,” said Belinda Walker. “It’s a harsh reality that you’re stuck with the sentence handed to all of us,” said Eddie Santos, Ryan’s brother.
After Ryan’s death, his family started the non-profit The David Ryan Walker Forever Falcon Foundation, which awards scholarships to high school seniors at Firelands High School. But now they’re working to put the brakes on drunk drivers and change Ohio laws.
“The courts, the state allow drunk drivers to play Russian roulette with our lives,” said Walker.
"Really want to use this to light a fire to impose change in our laws in the state of Ohio for repeat offenders,” said Santos.
We reached out to the judge who presided over this trial and who sentenced the drunk driver, but we have not heard back.
