'This is not normal.' Delayed justice over 2018 accident that left Highlands man disabled

HIGHLANDS - One morning in November, Robert King woke up and smelled gas permeating his Highlands home.

“The stove was on,” he said.

His son, 31-year-old Jared Donnelly, had left it unattended.

“He’ll put something on the stove and forget about it,” Robert said. “I try to make him meals he can put in the microwave. I tell him that, and he’ll forget that I told him.”

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Robert says Jared has sufferered short-term memory loss since July 26, 2018. That night, according to an investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s fatal accident unit, a volunteer firefighter responding to a call struck Donnelly while he was walking in a crosswalk.

'We're not giving up'

According to the report, the 2012 Buick driven by John McKay was going 44 mph in a 25-mph zone. It concluded that the collision “was precipitated by Mr. McKay’s high-speed approach to the intersection coupled with his failure to keep to the right during his left turn and his failure to make proper observations of Mr. Donnelly’s position within a marked crosswalk.”

It also noted “serious injuries to the pedestrian” and documented lacerations on Donnelly’s face, bruising and swelling in the posterior of his skull, and injuries to his shoulder, thigh, hip and ankle as he recovered in Jersey Shore University Medical Center’s intensive care unit in Neptune.

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McKay was issued five summonses, including one for reckless driving. On Friday, five-and-a-half years later, they finally were resolved with a downgrade to a guilty plea for careless driving. King is not thrilled about the outcome, but his son's civil lawsuit against the Borough of Highlands, the Highlands fire department and McKay can go forward at long last.

“I think their goal was to get us to throw our hands up and give up,” King said of the attorneys for the defendants, none of whom commented in response to an Asbury Park Press inquiry about the case. “That’s not going to happen. We’re not giving up.”

'A total abnormality'

King is a professional painter, and Donnelly was working with him in 2018 when the accident occured. According to Donnelly’s civil complaint, pain and cognitive impairment have left him permanently disabled.

“I had to relearn how to read,” Donnelly said. “I turn a little bit and I feel like I turned 360 (degrees). I definitely will not be able to drive.”

Speaking at a coffee shop at the corner of Bay Avenue and Miller Street — the scene of the accident — Donnelly said the shop’s light background music was causing him sensory problems.

“He has good days and bad,” King said. “Whenever he’s not doing well, I say, ‘OK, well he’s alive.’”

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Donnelly's civil complaint, filed in 2019, seeks unspecified damages for past and future medical expenses, loss of wages, loss of function, pain and suffering. King said they’ve rejected a mediator’s offer of $1.375 million that will not adequately cover the costs of decades of disability. Donnelly’s attorney, Brian Schiller, said they are willing to go to trial if necessary. Now that the municipal case is over after more than a dozen postponements, a civil trial is tentatively set for Feb. 20.

“I’ve never dealt with something like this in my career,” Schiller said. “This is a total abnormality. Five-plus years we’ve waited for these traffic tickets to get resolved. This is not normal.”

Lack of closure

Standing outside the coffee shop, at the intersection where he was struck, Jared Donnelly has no memory of what happened. But he is frustrated by the snail's pace toward closure.

“It’s been more than five years,” Donnelly said. “It’s stupid.”

Sometimes, after a bad day, Jared will sleep for 18 straight hours, his father said. King still works as a painter, and now he’s a caretaker, too.

“He’s a great dad,” Donnelly said.

One who has become acutely attuned to the smell of gas.

“What are you doing to do,” King said, “other than make sure there are batteries in the smoke alarm?”

Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Delayed justice over 2018 accident that left Highlands man disabled