A fatal traffic crash at the intersection of McDuff Avenue South and Rexford Street in Jacksonville's Lackawanna area sent police to the scene late Saturday night, with investigators scheduling an on-camera briefing for about 11:15 p.m. to release preliminary details. The crash left at least one person dead, according to police.
Police confirmed the fatal collision occurred at that intersection in the Lackawanna neighborhood on the city's Westside, according to Action News Jax, which sent a reporter to the overnight briefing as officers worked the scene. Beyond confirming the fatality and the location, authorities had not released additional details on the victim, the vehicles involved, or what led up to the crash at the time of the briefing.
Lackawanna is a historic streetcar suburb on Jacksonville's Westside, platted in the early 1900s, with McDuff Avenue long serving as the neighborhood's main commercial corridor and transit link, according to The Jaxson. The corridor also functions as a key Westside arterial that feeds traffic directly onto Interstate 10, according to Jacksonville Today, a connection that has drawn state infrastructure attention for managing high volumes and interchange weaving nearby.
A Corridor With a History of Serious Crashes
This is not the first serious collision reported along McDuff Avenue. A July 2020 hit-and-run crash with injuries was recorded at the intersection of McDuff Avenue and Rayford Street, not far from Saturday's crash site, according to a law firm's account of the corridor's crash history published by Sheftall & Associates. The pattern reflects broader concerns that have prompted federal and state scrutiny of Jacksonville's roadways.
The City of Jacksonville sits within a designated Focus Metropolitan Planning Organization region under U.S. Department of Transportation and Florida Department of Transportation safety guidelines, a status tied to the city's historically elevated rates of pedestrian and vehicle traffic fatalities. By late June, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Traffic Homicide Unit had already reported 92 traffic fatalities countywide for the year, including 25 pedestrian deaths. Duval County recorded 158 fatal traffic crashes in 2025 and 149 in 2024, according to data compiled from Jacksonville car accident statistics, underscoring how persistently high the county's annual fatality toll has remained.
What Happens Next in the Investigation
Under Section 316.066 of the Florida Statutes, officers are required to complete a formal long-form crash report whenever a collision results in death, personal injury, or disabling vehicle damage, a mandate that governs how the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office proceeds from here. JSO's Traffic Homicide Unit typically deploys specialized crash reconstruction techniques and works alongside the State Attorney's Office and the Medical Examiner's Office when a crash proves fatal, a standard multi-agency process for cases like this one.
Between December 2025 and May 2026, JSO ran a $113,520 high-visibility traffic enforcement campaign funded by FDOT and the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training, aimed at combating driver errors and reducing fatal collisions across the city. Whether speed, impairment, or another factor contributed to Saturday's crash remains unknown, and police had not identified the victim or described the vehicles involved as of the overnight briefing.
The Lackawanna crash adds to a string of deadly Westside collisions Hoodline has covered in recent weeks near Interstate 295, part of a broader pattern of fatal crashes stretching from Roosevelt Boulevard to Lem Turner Road. Investigators have not indicated when a full crash report or additional findings will be made public.
