On Saturday night, Alex Sheen stood outside the busiest bar he could find in Lakewood, Ohio and offered to drive strangers home for free, no tips accepted, to stop them from driving drunk.
That night marked exactly one year from the day that 61-year-old Vincent Canzani was killed in a drunk driving accident in Columbus, Ohio. Two months after that crash, Matthew Cordle, the 22-year-old behind the wheel, reached out to Sheen, a social activist and founder of the nonprofit becauseisaidiwould.com, to film a video confession. The video went viral and ended in Cordle being convicted and sentenced to just under seven years in jail.
Sheen spent four hours at the bar on Saturday transporting revelers home: a bachelorette party who took over his radio, a couple who had recently become new homeowners and expressed concern about the financial impact of drunken driving, a man who pledged to give $20 to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.) as a thanks for the ride, and two separate people who told Sheen they actually had past DUIs.
Sheen did not accept any payment, but said one member of the bachelorette party left $38 behind, which he is donating to M.A.D.D., along with an additional $1,000 donation from his nonprofit.
"I'm just a guy who picked up people and drove them home. I'm not encouraging everyone to do this, but making a little bit of difference is something anybody can do," Sheen told NBC News.
IN-DEPTH
'I killed a man': 22-year-old claims in video he caused drunken-driving fatality
- Crash victim's daughter challenges suspect's 'confession' video
Ohio man who confessed to DUI fatality in YouTube video pleads guilty