According to the Highway Patrol, Perry was struck by 39-year-old Kinston resident Melshawn Moore on the Durham Freeway early Sunday morning.
"I drove on the same exact road that Trooper Perry drove (today), and I passed the exact scene of the accident, and all I could think of was Trooper Perry," said attorney and friend Navi Sandhu. "I feel horrible for Trooper Perry and his family."
Court records out of Onslow and Lenoir counties show that Moore was convicted of at least three separate DWI charges between 2010 and 2017.
"Certainly there's no excuse for it," said Sandhu. "I think really what the public needs to know about is how people are legally driving after they've been convicted."
Under North Carolina law, in some cases, a judge can allow a person to drive while on a suspended license with a DWI conviction. However, the judge's discretion applies to limited driving privileges, which would grant drivers permission to drive to their place of work, worship, medical appointments, school, grocery store, and only a few other locations.
Sandhu argued that other states have done a more effective job in legislating DWIs.
"Look at other states that have implemented some new rules, some new laws, and we've seen their DWI prosecute convictions go up. And we've seen tragedies that happened Sunday morning go down," said Sandhu, who cited a stricter Utah law.
"We really should take a better look at (NC law)," said Sandhu.
He also suggested this tragedy may move state lawmakers to do more from Jones Street.
"What it really means is we need to take a better look at what happens when people have multiple DWI convictions," Sandhu said. "And how we as a society treat people like that."
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