Government

Brick Officials Announce Extra School-Area Presence In Wake Of Fatal Accident

by
Daniel Nee
May 27, 2026

Brick Township Memorial High School (Photo: Daniel Nee)

Brick Township’s acting police chief said Tuesday night that his officers have already increased their presence around township schools, and would embark on a new off-the-cuff assignment to check school speed limit signage in the wake of the death of a Brick Memorial High School student who was killed after being struck by a vehicle while on the way to school.

The death of BMHS student Jackson Mueller prompted about a dozen people to speak before the township council Tuesday night, most calling for stepped-up enforcement of school zone speed limits, with others calling for school zones to be expanded on Lanes Mill Road, where the accident occurred. Lanes Mill Road is a county road, the speed limit of which cannot be modified by the township council, however Mayor Lisa Crate said she was consulting with Ocean County officials on ways to make the corridor safer. Three schools, Herbertsville School, Lanes Mill Elementary School, and BMHS, are located along the route, as well as a youth baseball complex. A complicating matter is the fact that the road also serves as a direct route to Ocean University Medical Center.

School zones appear up and down the road adjacent to each school, though some who spoke at the meeting said the fluctuations can be confusing for motorists. They opined that the entire roadway between the intersections with Herbertsville Road and Burnt Tavern Road should be turned into a 25 m.p.h. zone during school dropoff and pickup hours. But beyond the suggestions for tweaking school zones and speed limits, enforcement was far and away the prime focus of the group’s suggestions.

“On top of police presence during school hours, I really think it’s important for our young kids, when they first start driving, to see the police pulling people over for speeding – especially in school zones,” said resident Maggie Morgan. “They need to be seeing them getting tickets and being held accountable.”

“I witness the chaos every morning,” another resident said. “We have teen drivers not paying attention, we have children walking on the sidewalks, we have children riding their bikes, and we have drivers going very fast.”

Mary Ruppenthal, said she moved to Herbertsville after having raised her own children on the barrier island, where traffic during the school year was virtually non-existent. But in addition to her own suggestions on enforcement, she lamented a general lack of respect among the driving public.

“I was sitting at the stop sign at Rhode Island and Lanes Mill the other day and [the kids] were doing everything right, and a truck that had been waiting … decided he waited long enough and turned in front of the whole group,” Ruppenthal said. “It’s not just about the speed limit. People are so disrespectful, they just don’t want to wait, and all of this could be avoidable if people were held accountable.”

Brick Twp. Police car. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

Acting Police Chief Henry Drew said all of his officers on shift during morning and afternoon hours perform “school checks,” including himself while he traverses the town. Police are stationed at each school during drop-off and pickup hours. He said that all officers will be on the lookout for people violating speed limits in and around school zones.

“I’ve instructed our traffic safety unit to focus on the school zones with our grant details that go out every day,” Drew said. “I want you guys to know that when you bring your children to school in the morning, that were there. We also do cover every single school for opening and closing.”

Some of the speakers at the council meeting had complained that some of the lighted school zone signs were not operating properly, which also prompted a response from the chief.

“While I was sitting here listening to your concerns, I e-mailed the entire department, and I directed all officers who are going to do our school checks tomorrow to ensure that every single light is working at all the school zones,” he said. “I want to make sure that we don’t get through tomorrow without having them fixed.”

Drew also said he would instruct officers to be more “enforcement oriented” around schools. Previously, he said, officers primarily focused on physical school security.

“We’ll find a balance,” he said. “We’ll find a way to help, and we’ll find a way to make it better. Our traffic unit is already in contact with the county road department, providing them the information that they requested, and that we requested for them to take a look at the road itself.”

Crate echoed Drew’s comments regarding involving the county. Traditionally, municipal officials in Ocean County are given one meeting per year with county road and engineering officials to discuss concerns and make suggestions that are then researched by their counterparts. In this case, given the public outcry, county officials appeared motivated to review the safety of Lanes Mill Road.

“All the concerns that were heard this evening are noted, and, as the chief said, we are already in contact with the county to see what we can do on our end to help make sure they have all the information they need to make positive changes in that area,” she said. “I do want to say that I had children that went to Brick Memorial as well. They’re recent graduates. I know what that line of traffic looks like every single morning.”