KIRKERSVILLE, Ohio — Sunday marks seven years since Kirkersville Police Chief Eric DiSario and two others were shot and killed at a nursing home in Licking County.
“Nobody had no idea that the little old town, as small as it is, would take his life,” said Eric's father, Tom DiSario.
Tom is proud of his son Eric's service.
“It was just a sad day,” he said.
Eric's end of watch came at the hands of a gunman at a care facility on May 12, 2017.
For five years after Eric's death, Tom honored and remembered his son by flying the thin blue line flag outside his Etna home.
Even while on oxygen, Tom swaps to his portable unit and takes the steps out to his flag pole.
While it may be a bit of a struggle for him, he says it's nothing compared to the sacrifice his son made.
“It means that my son was killed and that's what I see every day when I fly that flag. The American flag shows all the military personnel that died for this country. Now I want something that represents all the officers in the entire country that they are being backed,” Tom said.
Few things are more symbolic of our country than the flag. Tom feels the same symbolism about the thin blue line flag and his son.
His HOA told him the flag was a political statement and he needed to take it down.
“I didn't take it down until a judge told me to,” he said.
“When I heard about that, to be quite honest, I was disgusted,” said state Representative Kevin Miller.
Miller was an Ohio State Highway Patrol post commander just down the street from Kirkersville in Granville.
Miller said he attended Eric's funeral.
He has vowed to do what he can so Tom can fly the thin blue line flag again.
Miller has proposed a bill that would add the thin blue line flag to a list of protected flags like the American flag, the Ohio state flag, and the missing in action/prison of war flags.
House Bill 100, also known as the Chief Steven DiSario Act, has passed in the House and is now in Senate committee.
“Our military flags are all protected. Those flags represent folks that protect and serve us. All I'm saying is this flag, and it is nearly identical, these folks protect and serve us right in our communities. That flag should be protected as well,” Miller said.
Licking County Sheriff's Office Captain Chris Barbuto was working the day Eric was killed.
“The flag to us as a symbol is a reminder of the law enforcement officers who paid the ultimate price of their lives in the line of duty,” Barbuto said.
The bill has already had a sponsor's hearing and Tom is looking forward to his chance to testify.
“I'm just waiting so I can put that flag up,” he said.
There is some opposition to this bill.
Adrienne Hood, whose son Henry Green died in a shootout with Columbus police in 2016, testified against the bill.
In a statement, she said, "This blue line phenomenon doesn't only represent those who have died in the line of duty, it also represents those coworkers who have done egregious harm and oftentimes death to members of each of your communities. There are so many challenges facing our country and our state without adding unnecessary trauma and harm."