4 Investigates learned that there have been several deaths on Route 70 in Toms River — right next to a halfway house for the mentally disabled. The latest — a fatal hit and run. Brian Thompson reports.
A 34-year-old man was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver as he was crossing a busy stretch of a New Jersey roadway Tuesday night, police say.
John Ekarius was crossing Route 70 when a late-model blue Nissan Altima or Infiniti sedan hit him, Toms River police say. Authorities are looking for the vehicle, which has damage on the front-end driver's side, and its driver.
It's not the first time a pedestrian has died while crossing the roadway. Toms River Mayor Tom Kelleher said the Dover Woods halfway house, which serves the mentally disabled, has been "nothing but problems" for his town. He said Dover Woods has a history of fatal accidents on the roadway, and there have been at least three others over the past nine years.
For years, he's been trying to get the operator to build a fence where the property abuts Route 70.
Pasang Sherpa, who works at a nearby gas station, said some of Dover Woods' residents come by frequently. Most use the Route 9 bridge, but too many ignore the sign and cut straight to the roadway itself, he said.
