JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is searching for a car that is believed to have been involved in a fatal hit-and-run on the city’s Westside earlier this month.
Family identified the man who was killed as 25-year-old Dalton Penkacik. They said he was walking to work when he was hit and left for dead. Dalton’s 12-year-old brother, Brighton Penkacik, was also killed in a crash just three months earlier when he ran from a dog into oncoming traffic.
“It feels like a horror movie that I don’t think Hollywood would even write,” Jason Penkacik, the father of Dalton and Brighton, told News4JAX shortly after Dalton was killed. “Ideally, that person comes forward. We need that closure. At least with Brighton, we had that. This one feels a lot more open-ended so it’s a lot more to swallow.”
According to JSO, someone driving a dark-colored car, possibly blue, struck Dalton around 1 a.m. on Dec. 1 near the Confederate Point neighborhood between Harlow Road and 103rd Street and then sped away southbound on Blanding Boulevard.
Detectives suspected that the hit-and-run vehicle was a Volkswagen based on evidence at the crash scene and Monday released images of the vehicle.
Detectives have determined the suspect vehicle to be a 2011-2014 dark-colored Volkswagen Jetta, like the photograph above. The vehicle should have damage to the left, driver’s side front quarter panel and the windshield.
Anyone with information about the crash or the location of this vehicle is asked to call the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500 or email JSOCrimeTips@jaxsheriff.org. To remain anonymous and potentially receive a cash reward, you can call First Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS or text **TIPS (8477).