Manchester Man Dies After Driver Pins Him Against Truck: Official

MANCHESTER, NJ — A Manchester Township man is facing hit-and-run charges after he backed up and ran over a man Tuesday while picking up furniture the man was giving away, causing fatal injuries, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday.

Kevin P. Noonan, 62, has been charged with knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in death and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended driver’s license while being involved in a motor vehicle accident resulting in death, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Jack Gotfried, 69, of Whiting, suffered traumatic injuries to his lower extremities and died at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where he was flown for treatment, the prosecutor's office said.

Police found Gotfried lying injured in the road near his home on Yorktowne Parkway about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday after responding to a call about a pedestrian having been hit, the prosecutor's office said.

Investigators learned Noonan had stopped at Gotfried's home to pick up furniture that Gotfried was giving away. In the course of loading the furniture, Noonan allegedly backed his vehicle up at a high rate of speed, hitting Gotfried and pinning him between the back of Noonan's vehicle and a truck parked in front of Gotfried's home, the prosecutor's office said.

Noonan drove away, leaving Gotfried injured in the road, the prosecutor's office said. Noonan was found a short time later walking in the area of Western Boulevard in Lacey Township and arrested by a detective from the prosecutor's office. He was taken to Manchester Township Police headquarters and charged and he consented to have his blood drawn, which was performed at Community Medical Center, authorities said.

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

The prosecutor's office Vehicular Homicide Unit, Manchester Township Police Department's Patrol Division and Detective Bureau, and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit investigated the crash.

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