Escambia Man Charged in 2025 Fatal Nine Mile Road Hit And Run

April 28, 2026

An Escambia County man has been charged in connection with a fatal hit and run last year on Nine Mile Road.

A pedestrian was struck and killed in a hit and run during the early morning hours of June 20, 2025, on Nine Mile Road, and the suspected hit and run driver has surrendered to troopers.

Kenneth Early Bodley, Jr., 34, was booked into the Escambia County Jail last Friday on a charge of hit and run failure to stop or remain at a crash involving death. He was released Saturday night on an $88,000 bond.

About 3:58 a.m., the victim, identified as Roderick Bennett of Cocoa, Florida, was out for his morning exercise and jogging in or near a Nine Mile Road crosswalk. Bodley, who was traveling east in the inside lane of Nine Mile Road in a 2021 Chevrolet Traverse, failed to see Bennett in the crosswalk, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report. Troopers said he failed to stop and continued east on Nine Mile Road.

Bennett was transported to Baptist Hospital where he was pronounced deceased at 4:48 a.m.

A witness told troopers that the suspect vehicle passed him at a high rate of speed on Nine Mile Road, and he watched as the vehicle failed to stop at the red light at University Parkway.

Bodley’s vehicle was identified using license plate reader cameras, the report states, and a trail of vehicle parts led to Water’s Edge Apartments on Gloria Circle, about one half mile away. Investigators determined that Bodley lived at the complex, but they were unable to locate him or the vehicle.

Just before 10 p.m. on the day of the crash, the FHP dispatch center received a call from Bodley’s attorney, stating that he was at the FHP Pensacola Station to turn himself in. Bodley told a responding trooper that he was driving the Chevrolet Traverse involved in the crash and drove to his mother’s house on Lee Street in Pensacola. Troopers located the vehicle behind the residence, and located blood on the bumper belonging to Bennett, according to DNA testing.

“The defendant’s vehicle collided with the victim causing fatal injuries. The defendant failed to stop his vehicle and render aid, failed to remain on scene or report the crash. The defendant left the scene leaving the victim lying on the roadway,” the trooper’s report states.

Comments





Have a comment on this story?

We welcome your comments on this story, but there are some rules to follow::

(1) Be Nice. No comments that slander another, no racism, no sexism, no personal attacks.

(2) No Harrassing Comments. If someone says something bad about you, don't respond. That's childish.

(3) No Libel. That's saying something is not true about someone. Don't do it.

(4) Keep it clean. Nothing vulgar, obscene or sexually related. No profanity or obvious substitutions. Period.

(5) NorthEscambia.com reserves the right to remove any comments that violate our rules or we think to be inappropriate. We are not responsible for what is posted. Comments may not appear right away until they are approved by a moderator.

(6) Limit your comments to the subject in this story only, and limit comments to 300 words or less. Do not post copyrighted material. Comments will not be added to stories that are over 30 days old.

(7) No posts may advertise a commercial business, political candidate or political group, or link to another commercial web site or political site of any kind.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under TOP STORIES