After years of watching her daughter drift in and out of trouble, Dawn Gordon worried that one day she would hear something terrible about her on the news.
It happened about 6:45 Monday morning.
Gordon said she was watching television when she heard about an unidentified woman dying after being hit on Old Kings Road by a Jacksonville police cruiser. A few hours earlier Gordon’s daughter, Misty Proffitt, walked away from her mother’s home about a quarter-mile away. Proffitt was distraught and had been drinking, her mother said.
Police said they are unsure how Proffitt, 26, ended up in the roadway. Gordon said Proffitt told her boyfriend on the phone shortly before the accident that if he didn’t come pick her up within 15 minutes, she intended to lie down in front of traffic.
Gordon said police showed her Proffitt’s cell phone and earrings. Even before the visit, Gordon said she was sure her daughter was the victim mentioned on television.
“I went and started screaming, ‘I know that’s gotta be Misty,’ ” said Gordon, 45.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the wreck occurred just north of Baymeadows Road about 3:30 a.m. Investigators said Officer William Scott Carlson, 43, was patrolling in the area when he struck Proffitt as she lay in the road.
