A man in his 30s who was trying to cross Gate Parkway near the Costco store at Jacksonville's St. Johns Town Center was struck and killed on Friday afternoon, November 13, by a large commercial vehicle whose driver left the scene, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Source: Florida Times-Union
The crash happened at about 2 p.m. on Gate Parkway, between the Daily's gas station and BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse, in one of the busiest retail corridors in Jacksonville, Florida. Witnesses told police the man stumbled and fell as he crossed, before the commercial vehicle struck him, the St. Johns Citizen reported.
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Sergeant Robert Peck said investigators already have what he described as good leads on the vehicle, and that officers have used surveillance video from the area as part of the investigation. The St. Johns Citizen likewise reported that investigators said they had surveillance video and promising leads on the vehicle.
Sergeant Peck also said speed was not a factor in the crash, pointing to the slow-moving traffic on that stretch of Gate Parkway at the time. Police have not publicly released a description of the commercial vehicle or identified its driver, and the investigation is continuing.
The man's name has not been released. Sergeant Peck said his next of kin had not yet been notified, and police described him only as a man in his 30s; the St. Johns Citizen reported that he appeared to be in his late 30s.
A second fatal pedestrian crash in Jacksonville in three days
Friday's death was not an isolated case on Jacksonville's roads this week. Two days earlier, on the morning of Wednesday, November 11, a man in his 60s who was using a wheelchair was struck and killed by a pickup truck while crossing Hodges Boulevard at Fario Road on the city's Southside, according to the Sheriff's Office reporting carried by the Florida Times-Union. That driver remained at the scene and cooperated with detectives, and police counted that death as Duval County's 143rd traffic fatality of 2026. Friday's hit-and-run, in which the driver did not stop, became the county's 144th traffic death — and its 36th involving a pedestrian.
Gate Parkway runs past the St. Johns Town Center, a major open-air shopping district on Jacksonville's Southside, and carries a heavy mix of shopper traffic, delivery vehicles and large commercial trucks through the day. A fatal crash in slow-moving afternoon traffic, in front of some of the most heavily visited stores in the city, is the kind of incident local road-safety advocates say underlines how exposed people on foot remain even where traffic is barely moving.
Known: the crash happened at about 2 p.m. on Friday, November 13, on Gate Parkway between the Daily's gas station and BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse; a large commercial vehicle struck the man and left the scene; police say they have surveillance video and good leads, and that speed was not a factor. Not yet known: the man's name, which police will release after his family is notified, and any public description of the vehicle or its driver.
What happens next
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office investigation continues, with detectives working from the surveillance material and the leads Sergeant Peck described. Identifying the commercial vehicle and its driver is the immediate focus; leaving the scene of a crash involving a death is treated as a serious felony under Florida law, and an arrest would be followed by a court appearance in Duval County. Police are also expected to release the victim's name once his family has been notified. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when the Sheriff's Office releases the vehicle description, an arrest, or the victim's identity.