Driver, 18, Charged in Fatal Crash on Route 37 Saturday Night

Abel Mathukutty (Photo: Ocean County Jail)

An 18-year-old North Jersey man is facing charges of leaving the scene of a fatal accident, among others, after a deadly crash occurred on Route 37 Saturday night near the Thomas A. Mathis Bridge over Barnegat Bay.

According to a statement from prosecutors, Abel Mathukutty, 18, of Lake Hiawatha, was charged with leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash causing death, as well as leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash causing serious bodily injury, both related to the same accident.

According to authorities, Toms River police were called the area near the Aqua Blu restaurant around 7:25 p.m. for a report of a motor vehicle that had crashed into a utility pole. Responding officers discovered that a white Mercedes sedan, occupied by a female driver and a male passenger – both of whom had sustained serious injuries – had crashed into a utility pole. Both occupants were transported to Community Medical Center in Toms River, where the female driver succumbed to her injuries. The male passenger was then transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where he is listed in critical condition.

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An investigation by Toms River police as well as detectives from the county sheriff’s department and prosecutor’s office, “revealed that an Infiniti sedan had struck the Mercedes on the driver’s side,” causing the Mercedes to crash into the utility pole. The Infiniti sedan then fled the scene and continued eastbound, traveling over the Mathis Bridge, the statement said.

A description of the vehicle was broadcast to surrounding towns, and at about 8 p.m. Seaside Park police officers conducted a stop on a car matching the description of the suspect vehicle. Officers “noted that the vehicle had sustained heavy passenger side damage and that the airbags in the vehicle had been deployed.”

The continuing investigation revealed that this vehicle was, in fact, the same vehicle involved in the earlier crash, and that Mathukutty was operating the vehicle at the time of the crash, prosecutors allege. Mathukutty was taken into custody at the scene without incident. He was transported to the Ocean County Jail where he is presently lodged pending a detention hearing.