JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — One week after a motorcyclist was killed in a crash in Oakleaf, loved ones held a 'ride out' to celebrate his life.
Last Tuesday night, just down the street from Baptist Oakleaf, Thamara Lacy saw the emergency lights during her work shift.
“Somebody comes in and tells me there’s an accident out there," Lacy explained. "And I said, ‘Oh yeah there is an accident' – not knowing it was my child.”
As soon as she got the call, Lacy said she rushed to the hospital, but her son Jovantez Bonner – best known as “JB” – didn’t make it.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the motorcyclist, whose family identified as Bonner, ran a red light and collided with an SUV while traveling west on Argyle Forest Blvd.
"It was so sudden. I wouldn't wish it on anyone," Bonner's brother Desmond Samuels said. "It's had to actually feel everything. JB's a person to be celebrated. All the kind words and love that I've been getting from his friends and co-workers. It's helped a lot."
After a week of mourning, fellow riders and family members shared a prayer and revved their engines in unison Tuesday night for Bonner.
“JB, he was a fun and loving spirit," Samuels described his brother. "He would come into the room with a smile on his face, and make everybody else smile honestly.”
He says Bonner was the oldest of five siblings, and he set a great example for them all.
“His smile, his smile was contagious. He was a person that would go out of his way to make sure you were good," Lacy said. "And we're going to keep smiling. Just for [JB]."
Bonner’s loved ones say he was an Oakleaf High School graduate who enjoyed his job at T-Mobile and spending time with his big, extended family, but that Bonner was also very passionate about riding.
In fact, his girlfriend Alexia Abrams says Bonner spent his free time studying bike parts and safety.
“I think that's what makes it more shocking and off guard because he wasn't just someone out here just doing this for fun. He dedicated time to studying this," Abrams explained.
The 'ride out' started and ended at the Merchants Gate Dr. intersection where the group took a kneel for Bonner.
“So many people were affected by this, and they need him here. We need him here," Abrams said. "It's not just a loss. We were kind of robbed of a really good person.“
There will also be a Celebration of Life service for Bonner on Saturday, Jun. 12, at 2:00 p.m. at Naugle Funeral Home located at 1203 Hendricks Ave.