CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – It’s been a week since 15-year-old Sadie Haynes was hit by a car at the Clay County intersection of Town Center Boulevard and Eagle Harbor Parkway, which left her with an extensive list of serious injuries.
Sadie is slowly recovering, and while her family tells News4JAX that she has a long road ahead of her, her father, Kevin Haynes, said that he is now pushing for change to prevent another tragedy from occurring.
“I think our counties, our cities, and our states need to do much better at protecting the pedestrians,” Kevin said.
The markings on the ground serve as a daily reminder of what happened to Sadie, just a mile away from home, and Kevin said that since that moment, the family has remained by his daughter’s side.
“She is getting better. She’s doing well,” Haynes said. “She’s not communicating. She’s still doing small steps. Every small step is a giant leap for us.”
Kevin says he’s in a much better mood after receiving a hug from his daughter, and isn’t taking the fact that his daughter is alive for granted.
“And that’s what is important. She recognizes me, at least she’s alive,” he said, adding that Sadie is a blessed girl who has the whole family and community behind her, which her father deeply appreciates.
“Always appreciate it. People are praying for her. Our community is just fantastic, just fantastic, every one of them,” Kevin said.
He told News4JAX that Clay County leaders have already reached out to him and say that they are working on something to make the crosswalk where she was hit safer.
“She is feisty, she’s vibrant, she is full of life. She’s tough, she’s a teenager, so, you know, and she has great friends, and she has a great personality...just an incredible person, my partner, my buddy, and so she’s just my, she’s my girl,” he said. “We are fortunate enough to be able to do the things that we love to do and I just want her to be able to do those again.”
