SANDY, Utah — A.J. Medina looked forward to regular calls with Josh Perry. He shared how his close friend had always been a big motivator.
“You’re not allowed to give up. You’re not allowed to quit. You’re not allowed to have a bad day. He would quote David Goggins all the time,” said Medina.
For Danny Underwood, Perry was a close hunting buddy.
“We hunted together, and he was probably one of my closest friends," Underwood shared. "I think I talked to him more than anybody.”
But last Friday, Underwood never received his usual call from Josh.
“It clicked right there. I had always heard from him by then,” he said.
His friends said Perry was out for his routine run last Thursday night.
Community calls for safety improvements after pedestrian hit, killed in Sandy crosswalk:
“He ran seven miles every night," Underwood explained. "I always made fun of him for it. Every time I made fun of him for it, he’d say, 'Well, I’ll see you at the top of the mountain,' because I was way behind him.”
According to the Sandy Police Department, Perry was in a crosswalk near Alta High School when a driver struck and killed him. The driver of the vehicle was later arrested on suspicion of impaired driving.
“To drive drunk is just unbelievable in this day and age,” said Underwood.
“There’s nothing more dangerous than your vehicle," Medina added. "Because you’re going to be driving a multi-thousand-pound missile.”
Perry's friends are now thinking of the legacy he leaves behind.
“He was an amazing father, always talking about his kids, their plans," Medina said. "Almost every night, he has one sport that he was taking the kids to,” Medina said.
“One of the last text messages I got from him was “olive juice,” and that’s because if you mouth olive juice, it looks like you’re saying I love you."
“And we’d always say longtime love. When you said I love you to him, you meant it,” shared Underwood.
In the days following Perry's death, a GoFundMe page was created to support his wife and two children.
“Anybody that can do anything when it comes to the GoFundMe," said Underwood, "that is going to help out his wife, Caress, and his two beautiful children so much."”
