TOLEDO, Ohio — Jasmine Gresham and one other person were killed in a south Toledo crash two weeks ago when a woman she was in a relationship with rammed her car, causing her to lose control and hit a utility pole, according to police.
Gresham's friend, Anton Parks Sr., is sharing her story and working to honor her legacy.
Parks was dealt a challenging hand growing up in Toledo and found himself slipping into the lifestyle of crime and drugs.
"I was a part of violent crime and bad decisions," he said.
But after Parks came close to serving time in prison for a self-defense stabbing case in 2017, he decided to turn over a new leaf and be a better member of the community by becoming involved in an organization called Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, helping people who lost family members get access to resources.
"(To) a lot of people in the community, I am a detriment now. He works with police, he's worried about laws and voting," Parks said. "But (Gresham) and her siblings really embraced the fact that I was making changes."
Parks and Gresham, a community advocate herself, developed a strong bond as someone the other could lean on for help and advice. Parks said he counseled Gresham following her relationship with Jasmine Pitts, who last week was indicted by a Lucas County grand jury on vehicular homicide and felonious assault charges in the crash that killed Gresham and her friend, Donta Marshall. A third friend of Gresham, Mikayla Jackson, was injured in the crash.
"Our relationship was 'Hey, you off? Come eat with us. Come kick it with us,'" Parks said of Gresham. "I gave my opinion on what I saw, what I thought, and I spoke to Jasmine Pitts specifically about this and told her you're going to do something you can't take back."
Parks said he felt like he had failed Gresham as a friend, "because everyone was trying to see something productive come out of that situation."
"It was heartbreaking," he said. "I actually ended up in the hospital with some heart problems because my heart was definitely broken."
In the weeks following the crash, Parks has been applying his skills working with survivors. He has been counseling Jackson, grieving with Gresham's family and even speaking with Pitts' father. He hopes to help heal the people affected by the incident not just because it's his job, but because it's what Gresham would have done.
"She couldn't see you going through something and not pull up. She couldn't see you struggling with death or life and not give you that smile or some motivation," Parks said.
Parks is working to create a fund to help support Gresham's children and family through the Black Men Rise program.