JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A neighbor is identifying the victim in a deadly hit-and-run on Vernon Road as 72-year-old Willie McClendon Jr., also known as Sonny, and is speaking out about the man she says was taken too soon.<\/p>\n
The Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office said McClendon was struck Saturday, January 10, on Vernon Road between Edgewood Avenue and West 45th Street. Police say the driver fled the scene, and McClendon later died from his injuries. Detectives have released surveillance video showing a Dodge vehicle of interest and are asking for the public\u2019s help to identify the driver.<\/p>\n
Angelina Jenkins, a neighbor who said she grew up with McClendon, described him as a kind and community-minded man.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSonny, it was a very kind person. He was very neat and organized. I grew up with Sonny. He would keep our back Canal clean,\u201d said Jenkins.<\/p>\n Jenkins said McClendon frequently walked along Vernon Road to the Family Dollar and was on his way back home when the crash happened.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he was on his way back on that day that particular day, and we heard the sirens, and one of my neighbors informed me that there was a gentleman on the ground, and they were pumping his chest,\u201d said Jenkins.<\/p>\n She said neighbors were devastated when they learned the man who was killed was McClendon.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were so sad to hear that it is Sonny cause Sonny was just a great person and great to the neighborhood,\u201d said Jenkins.<\/p>\n Investigators have not said how long McClendon was in the roadway or whether anyone nearby saw or heard the crash. During a briefing, a Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office officer made a direct plea to the hit-and-run driver to come forward, saying it would \u201cmake it easier on them and JSO.\u201d<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n Jenkins said safety concerns along Vernon Road have been raised for years, with neighbors pleading with the city to slow down traffic in the area.<\/p>\n \u201cSaturday night, Sunday night, it is crazy. They come through here. They do almost 90 miles an hour,\u201d said Jenkins.<\/p>\n She said residents want immediate action before another tragedy occurs.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we\u2019re trying to get speeders to just slow down on the street. It seems to be a race track, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to stop. We have children on the street as well, and as you can see, that just passed back,\u201d said Jenkins.<\/p>\n This marks Jacksonville\u2019s fifth traffic fatality so far this year.<\/p>\n Neighbors said they are now asking the city to step in and help slow down drivers along Vernon Road in hopes of preventing another deadly crash.<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A neighbor is identifying the victim in a deadly hit-and-run on Vernon Road as 72-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[982,65377,7297,35072,65379,969,116,118,117,6458,65378,1872,634,51511,9475,65376,65374,65380,65375],"class_list":{"0":"post-133065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action_news","9":"tag-angela_jenkins","10":"tag-dodge","11":"tag-edgewood_avenue","12":"tag-family_dollar","13":"tag-jack","14":"tag-jacksonville","15":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","16":"tag-jacksonville-news","17":"tag-jacksonville_sheriffs_office","18":"tag-jenkins","19":"tag-jso","20":"tag-local","21":"tag-magnolia_gardens","22":"tag-nicholas_brooks","23":"tag-sonny","24":"tag-vernon_road","25":"tag-west_45th_street","26":"tag-willie_mcclendon_jr"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}