Teen Seriously Injured In Hit-And-Run In Jackson, Man Arrested

JACKSON, NJ ? A Monmouth County man has been arrested in a hit-and-run that seriously injured a 16-year-old boy in Jackson on Tuesday, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

Luke J. Ferrante, 47, of Spring Lake, has been charged with knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash resulting in serious bodily injury and possession of drug paraphernalia, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

The 16-year-old, who suffered serious head injuries, is listed as stable at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, the prosecutor's office said.

Authorities say Ferrante was driving north on South New Prospect Road about 12:15 p.m. Tuesday when he crossed over the white line onto the gravel sidewalk along the road and hit the teen, who was walking on the side of the road, near Citadel Drive.

Ferrante then drove away, authorities said.

As officers and emergency medical technicians were taking care of the injured teen, police received a second call reporting a man slumped over the steering wheel of a Nissan Altima on Valley Road, about a half-mile north of where the teen had been hit, prosecutors said.

Police responding to that call saw the Nissan had significant front-end damage and found the driver, later identified as Ferrante, slumped over the steering wheel of the vehicle, authorities said. He was arrested at the scene, and a search of him in connection with the arrest turned up drug paraphernalia, authorities said.

Ferrante was taken to Monmouth Medical Center-Southern Campus in Lakewood, where a draw of his blood was obtained pursuant to a court-authorized warrant, the prosecutor's office said. The results of the blood draw remain pending.

He is being held at the Ocean County Jail in Toms River pending a detention hearing.