JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A woman is dead and her neighbor is currently recovering at a local hospital after both were hit by a car on their morning walk in Jacksonville Monday, according to the sheriff's office.
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Sergeant Hungerford said the crash happened around 8:30 a.m. on Hanson Drive North in a neighborhood on the Westside. Hungerford said a 20-year-old man in an SUV struck the two women while they were on their "morning walk" with a dog.
The woman hospitalized following the incident suffered life-threatening injuries in the crash, according to Hungerford.
"They were just walking on the side of the road in the northbound lane on the right-hand side of the road where they should," Hungerford said. "There's no sidewalk, so they were in the right spot where they should be walking."
The sergeant told First Coast News the women were in their 70s and that they were neighbors.
“I usually get up with my coffee and meet them every morning," said Roy, a neighbor who asked to use only his first name.
Roy looks forward to seeing two of his neighbors pass by his home every morning on their walk.
“Sometimes I’ll meet them up and walk with them, but fortunate for me, I wasn’t with them this morning," he said.
The rare day when he didn’t meet up with them, he found a police scene on his street.
“Just knew it was she because I saw the little stroller she walks her puppy with, and immediately I got the feeling it was her," Roy said.
Hungerford said the driver was coming home after an overnight shift when he hit the women.
“He stopped and he’s here on scene," said Hungerford. "There’s no indicators of impairment. Just seems like a bad accident.”
Hungerford added they have no evidence the driver was on his phone at the time of the crash, and they have video from a doorbell camera in the neighborhood that shows the crash.
The sheriff’s office responded to three deadly crashes over Labor Day weekend.
“For a holiday weekend, it’s not terribly busy, but tragic nonetheless," Hungerford said. "Three people have died and another three that are in critical.”
Roy will miss his morning coffee walks.
“The neighborhood will miss her," he said.
The sheriff’s office didn’t arrest the driver on the scene. The sergeant said that will be up to the state attorney to either pursue criminal charges or a traffic citation, but there will be some form of repercussions.
The deadly crash marks the 89th traffic fatality in Duval County this year, according to JSO, which is down from 129 this time last year.