Man arrested in fatal Brick hit-and-run crash

BRICK TOWNSHIP — A South Amboy man has been arrested in a fatal hit-and-run accident on Saturday night that killed an unidentified female pedestrian, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

Mark Carey, Jr., 19, has been charged with knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in the death of another, in connection with the incident that occurred at 9:15 am. Saturday near Route 35 South and Bay Avenue, officials said.

Carey was also charged with leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in serious bodily injury or death, failing to report an accident, reckless driving, careless driving, and failure to maintain lane of travel, police said in a release.

When police arrived at the scene, they found that a vehicle had struck the victim on the roadway shoulder and then fled the scene. She was taken to Hackensack Meridian Ocean University Medical Center in Brick Township, where she was pronounced dead.

“A thorough and extensive investigation conducted by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit-Vehicular Homicide Squad, Brick Township Police Department, and Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, determined that the vehicle which struck and killed the victim was a 1999 Ford Explorer registered to Carey,” a release said. “Further investigation identified Carey as the individual who operated the (vehicle) at the time of the crash that resulted in the victim’s death.”

Carey was taken into custody at his home in South Amboy without incident, police said. He is being held in Ocean County Jail awaiting a detention hearing.

Joe Strupp is an award-winning journalist with 30 years’ experience who covers education and several local communities for APP.com and the Asbury Park Press. He is also the author of three books, including Killing Journalism on the state of the news media, and an adjunct media professor at Rutgers University and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Reach him at jstrupp@gannettnj.com and at 732-413-3840. Follow him on Twitter at @joestrupp

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Brick NJ hit-and-run: South Amboy man arrested in fatal crash