Lower East Siders Remember 'Gentle' Robert Perry, Homeless Man Killed by Speeding Driver

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — Robert Perry's mother walked out on him when he was just 2, he said. He didn't see her again until he was much older. As Perry told it, he left home when he was 12 and lived underneath a boardwalk in New Jersey for years.

When he was 19, he shot somebody, and he was in and out of prison for 30 years for several different crimes, he said. He struggled with alcoholism and homelessness throughout his entire life. A decade ago, he managed to find a community in The Bowery Mission on Delancey Street. There, he took photography classes, exhibited his works to the public, and made friends.

"He was more seasoned when he came to us, a lot more softened from the person he told me he used to be," Jason Storbakken, a staff member at The Bowery Mission who knew Perry well, told Patch. "He was very much liked by the community — the homeless community, local businesses, neighbors. ... He was a very gentle, gentle person."

On Nov. 24, 2014, 57-year-old Perry was crossing the Bowery near Rivington Street when he was struck by a BMW. The car was going 55 miles per hour in a 25 miles-per-hour zone, his body flung into the air before landing more than 140 feet away, court documents said.

The BMW's driver, 25-year-old Danny Lin, continued driving after striking Perry but eventually drove onto the sidewalk, crashing into a fire hydrant near several other pedestrians.

Perry was taken to Beekman Downtown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

Prosecutors later brought evidence of Lin's GoPro recording his speeding endeavors. "Basically, driving fast is what the defendant does. It's like a hobby of his," assistant District Attorney David Drucker said at trial.

Lin was sentenced this week to 1 3/4 to 5 years in prison, half the sentence the prosecutors were seeking.

The Bowery Mission had the funeral for Perry in its chapel, a rare occurrence that showed just how much people cared for him, Storbakken said.

"We remember Robert not as a 'homeless man,' but as a child of God, with a name, a story and gifts to offer the world," the mission said at the time.

Storbakken said The Bowery Mission was able to bury Perry in New Jersey, where Perry said he was from.

Just a few days before he was killed, Perry gave an interview with Storied.TV about his life:

Right before his death, Perry participated in a photography project at the mission. His photos provide a window into his chronic struggle with homelessness.

"I want people to hear my story, hear my cry," Perry wrote as part of his artist statement for the exhibit. "We are looked at like dirt, but we are somebody."

"I've been homeless on and off since I was twelve. I never really had a bed," Perry wrote as a caption for the above photograph, "Like a Dream."

"This bed looks beautiful... like a dream. I usually sleep in The Bowery Mission or on a park bench or I take the A train to Far Rockaway and back three times and that gets me some sleep. I'm 57 now."

Photo credit: Courtesy of The Bowery Mission