JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Highway Patrol on Tuesday released videos and photos of a vehicle sought in connection with a crash that killed a Jacksonville father.
On Oct. 30, according to troopers, John Kendrick Jr., 27, was bicycling along Zoo Parkway near Eastport Road when an SUV entered the bike lane and struck the rear tire of the bike, causing him to fall off onto the curb. Kendrick, who family members said was coming home from his shift at the Amazon warehouse on the Northside when he was hit, later died at a hospital.
In the footage released Tuesday — which, in the video inside the article, News4Jax paused before the bicyclist is struck — it appears the driver applies the brakes after the crash. Troopers said the driver then circled back around, stopped and then left the scene.
At some point after that, Jeffery Webb and his friend, Michelangelo Jean Phillippe, found Kendrick.
“I saw a pair of shoes in the road, and when I got closer to the shoes, I took a look to the left towards the median and I saw a man in the median,” Jean Phillippe said.
Webb said: “I told him to pull over and turn on his hazards I got out and initially I didn’t see the bike.”
The men said that they called police. Kendrick was then taken to UF Health Jacksonville, where he died.
According to the Highway Patrol, the vehicle sought, which FHP tweeted photos of, is a silver or light-colored Subaru SUV with right front damage and a missing fog lamp. Troopers said the SUV possibly has damage to the right side and windshield, as well.
News4Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson said investigators might have to visit repair shops to identify a suspect because those damages may already be repaired.
“They go to trusted body shops or makeshift body shops and investigate what type of vehicles they have worked on in the past few days or the day of the incident leading up to this very day,” Jefferson said. “Body shops don’t want to get caught in trick bag, so if they see or hear a report of a hit and run and a vehicle, whether it’s the vehicle or not similarly come in, they usually contact the police and let them know.”
Anyone with information about the deadly crash is asked to contact *FHP (*347) or Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS (8477).