{"id":268953,"date":"2026-05-13T04:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/268953\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T04:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:07:13","slug":"family-of-largo-navy-veteran-killed-in-motorcycle-crash-urge-drivers-to-look-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/268953\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of Largo Navy veteran killed in motorcycle crash urge drivers to \u2018look twice\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Calls Calls for motorcycle safety 1 year after crash<\/a> <\/p>\n

As orange ribbons mark National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month this May, the family of Sean Jennings Jr. is honoring his memory with a message they hope could save lives. FOX 13’s Jennifer Kveglis reports.<\/p>\n

LARGO, Fla. – As orange ribbons mark National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month this May, the family of Sean Jennings Jr. is honoring his memory with a message they hope could save lives.<\/p>\n

One year after the 22-year-old Navy veteran was killed in a motorcycle crash<\/a> in Pinellas County<\/a>, his loved ones returned to the crash site on Seminole Boulevard, asking drivers to slow down, pay attention and watch for motorcycles.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

Jennings was riding his motorcycle north on Seminole Boulevard just one day after Mother\u2019s Day last year when Florida<\/a> Highway Patrol says a driver in a Mitsubishi Outlander attempted to make a left turn onto 122nd Avenue North and hit him.<\/p>\n

Jennings died in the crash.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The driver was later cited by FHP for failing to yield.<\/p>\n

Jennings’ mother, Virginia Bentley, says the citation does not reflect the loss her family continues to live with.<\/p>\n

“My son is more than a case number. My son is more than a $168 ticket,” Bentley said.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

Bentley says reliving that day has been especially difficult as the anniversary approaches.<\/p>\n

“I almost cried a lot, picturing it happening all over again,” Bentley said.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Bentley hopes sharing Jennings’ story will encourage drivers to be more aware of motorcyclists on the road.<\/p>\n

“Not only look twice, but three, four times, because you can actually save someone\u2019s life in just two seconds,” Bentley said.<\/p>\n

Why you should care:<\/p>\n

According to Jennings’ family, more than 6,000 people died or were involved in motorcycle crashes last year.<\/p>\n

They hope their public show of support serves as a reminder that a few extra seconds of caution behind the wheel can prevent another family from experiencing the same loss.<\/p>\n

Sean’s legacy <\/p>\n

Bentley says one source of peace is knowing how many lives her son helped save through organ donation.<\/p>\n

As a LifeLink organ donor, Jennings donated eight organs to five people, along with 97 tissue grafts. He was also a cornea donor, helping restore sight to a woman in Guyana.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Courtesy: Virginia Bentley <\/p>\n

Jennings’ family also maintains a memorial at the crash site they call “Sean\u2019s Corner,” decorating it for holidays and special occasions throughout the year.<\/p>\n

For Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, they added orange decorations and lined the road with signs reading “Watch for Motorcycles.”<\/p>\n

The Source: This story is based on interviews with Sean Jennings Jr.\u2019s mother, Virginia Bentley, and observations from his family\u2019s awareness event Tuesday at the crash site on Seminole Boulevard in Largo. Details about the crash and citation were provided by the Florida Highway Patrol.<\/p>\n

Pinellas County<\/a>Crime and Public Safety<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Calls for motorcycle safety 1 year after crash As orange ribbons mark National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[630,47,115,1157,202,204,203,199,201,200,628],"class_list":["post-268953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-fl","tag-news","tag-pinellas","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268953","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=268953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}