JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville family wants lights to be added to the Sisters Creek Bridge after their loved one was killed in a bicycle accident.
Brandy Harris said Chad Herrington, her 18-year-old brother, was riding his bike on Heckscher Drive the night after Thanksgiving when he didn’t see the sidewalk ending and hit the wall near the end of the bridge.
“What he didn’t know was at the end of the sidewalk, there’s two 90 degree turns that goes down to a creek side,” Harris said. ‘And he hit that wall at 15 miles per hour and him and his bike went over and he hit his head on the sign.”
Harris said his body was found on Dec. 4. The family told News4Jax he died of blunt force trauma to the head. They believe his death could have been avoided.
“You can’t tell me that if my brother had an opportunity to see that wall, he wouldn’t have tried to stop -- stop himself from going over that wall. So I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” said Harris.
Herrington’s mother, Billie Hawks, said lights and additional signs should be added to make the bridge safer at night.
“I think it could have been avoided if there’s light on that bridge where he could see that wall, but he couldn’t see it because there’s no light,” said Hawks.
News4Jax obtained the incident report from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office but it did not provide any information about what led up to Herrington’s death.
A statement from the Florida Department of Transportation reads in full: