Man Lying In Road Hit By Dump Truck, Killed In Ocean County, Prosecutor Says

JACKSON, NJ — Authorities are investigating after a man died early Monday when he was hit by a dump truck while he was lying in the middle of a road in Jackson.

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office has not released the man's identity.

The incident happened about 2:30 a.m. on South Hope Chapel Road, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

The driver of the Mack dump truck was headed north on South Hope Chapel Road when he saw debris in the road and tried to maneuver around it, and then realized the debris "was, in fact, a body," the prosecutor's office said.

Despite trying to avoid the body, the driver drove over the man. He stopped immediately and called police, the prosecutor's office said.

Officers and first responders tried to render aid bu the man had suffered significant head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, the prosecutor's office said.

Authorities examined the dump truck and found no evidence on the front of the vehicle that it had hit the man, and the physical evidence "was consistent with the truck having run over the body already laying in the roadway and dragging him a short distance," the prosecutor's office said.

The crash is under investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit-Vehicular Homicide Squad, Jackson Township Police Department, Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, and Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office.