JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A friend stopped by the scene to lay flowers in remembrance of 19-year-old Nicholas Reiman. He was killed in a motorcycle crash Wednesday night in Middleburg. Fifteen-year-old Layla Parker was also on the motorcycle. She was taken to the hospital, where her condition is still listed as critical.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the crash happened at the intersection of Cosmos Ave. and Peppergrass St. The teens on the motorcycle ran through a stop sign and collided with a pickup truck. The driver of the truck was treated for minor injuries.
The crash happened right in front of Sheila Hodgson's house. While she was not home when it happened, she saw the aftermath.
"People were out here measuring and taking pictures until almost one o'clock this morning, it was horrible looking," Hodgson explained.
This is not the first crash to happen right in front of her house. Hodgson said she and her neighbors deal with crashes there about every six months.
"A lot of them say, I didn't know the stop sign was here," Hodgson said.
Hodgson said it gets very dark at night and people often drive over the speed limit. She said she reached out to county leaders about possibly installing a street light at the intersection or adding blinking lights to the stop signs.
"Something so people can see these stop signs out here. And they came out and measured how many cars go up down the street in a day and told me nobody wants lights out here, this is the country. But that's not true," Hodgson said.
The community is now mourning the loss of Nicholas Reiman. He is being remembered as a loving son, uncle, and father. A GoFundMe Page was set up to help pay his funeral costs.
Hodgson did not know Reiman, but she is heartbroken for his family. She hopes something like this does not happen again.
"I’m not saying it can be totally unavoidable with the wrecks, but maybe if it just stopped one from happening," Hodgson said.
First Coast News reach out to the Clay County Public Works Department to see if there are plans to revisit the safety of the intersection. A representative has not responded yet.