{"id":698545,"date":"2026-06-11T22:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T22:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/698545\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T22:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T22:32:08","slug":"from-afghanistan-to-blue-origin-a-jacksonville-veterans-life-cut-short-by-a-drunk-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/698545\/","title":{"rendered":"From Afghanistan to Blue Origin \u2014 a Jacksonville veteran\u2019s life cut short by a drunk driver"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville family is mourning the loss of a U.S. Army veteran and father of two, killed last week when a drunk driver struck his vehicle on Interstate 295.<\/p>\n

Caleb Suit, who served two tours in Afghanistan, was driving home from his job as an engineer at Blue Origin near Daytona on the night of June 3rd when a BMW driven by 28-year-old Christian Sotolongo slammed into his white Ford Focus northbound on I-295, just before the San Jose exit.<\/p>\n

Sotolongo told Florida Highway Patrol troopers he had been cut off by a motorcycle, causing him to lose control of his vehicle. Troopers noted his eyes were bloodshot and watery and detected the smell of alcohol coming from his car. When questioned about where he had been, Sotolongo initially refused to answer before later admitting he had come from Walk-On\u2019s Sports Bar.<\/p>\n

Sotolongo was arrested and charged with DUI. Suit was transported to Orange Park Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n

Suit\u2019s wife, Sloan Callahan, said she first learned something was wrong when she received a crash alert on her phone that night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had tried getting a hold of him \u2014 he didn\u2019t answer, so I started to worry pretty quickly,\u201d Sloan Suit told News4JAX. \u201cAnd then I called non-emergency JSO just to confirm if there was an incident in that area. They confirmed that there was.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE | \u2018He\u2019s always been special\u2019: Family of Jacksonville man killed in wrong-way crash near Tallahassee mourns FSU graduate<\/a><\/p>\n

A location alert on her phone directed her to Orange Park Medical Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had gotten a last and final alert that his location was at Orange Park Medical Center,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I knew that that was him, and I headed that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The injuries Caleb Suit sustained were severe.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had multiple injuries to several different areas of his brain,\u201d Sloan said. \u201cHe immediately went into a coma \u2014 and remained in the coma the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n

After several days on life support, Caleb Suit was declared brain dead. He was 36 years old.<\/p>\n

Before his career at Blue Origin, Suit served honorably in the U.S. Army, completing two tours in Afghanistan and a tour in Cuba. His family described him as a devoted husband, father, son, and provider.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was exceptional at everything he did,\u201d Sloan Suit said. \u201cBut the best thing he did was be a father. There\u2019s just no doubt about it. And those kids love him so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suit is survived by his wife and two children. The couple\u2019s son has special needs and requires full-time, ongoing therapy and support, care that Sloan, will now navigate alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was our provider,\u201d she said. \u201cHe financially took care of basically everything for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In speaking out, Sloan Suit said she hopes her family\u2019s tragedy serves as a warning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you drink, just call somebody \u2014 call an Uber,\u201d she said. \u201cPlease do not drive your car. Because while I don\u2019t think there\u2019s ever any intention of getting on the road and ruining somebody\u2019s life, that can happen. And that did happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to help<\/p>\n

The Suit family has set up a GoFundMe to help cover funeral expenses and the ongoing care of their children. As of publication, the campaign has raised more than $14,000.<\/p>\n

To donate or share the campaign, visit their GoFundMe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville family is mourning the loss of a U.S. Army veteran and father of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,14310,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-698545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-jacksonville","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}