Driver will not be charged with striking boy in street
BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer

MANALAPAN - A 17-year-old female Manalapan High School student who struck an 18-year-old Manalapan High School senior with her vehicle on Oct. 16 will not be receiving any traffic summonses from police.

According to a press release issued by police, Manalapan Patrolman George Heitz responded to Church Lane at about 2 p.m. after an "impact" occurred between the girl's vehicle which was traveling west on Church Road and the boy who was crossing the road at a point about 200 feet west of Tennent Road.

The location of the accident was about two-tenths of a mile down Church Lane from Manalapan High School.

Police did not release the name of the driver or the teenager who was struck.

In interviews last week, Manalapan police Capt. Lou Moreto and James Wasser, superintendent of schools for the Freehold Regional High School District, both confirmed that police had ascertained that the boy had asked the school bus driver to let him get off the bus after it had left the high school. They said the student recalled that he had an afterschool commitment at the high school.

The driver accommodated the boy's request and he was struck by the girl's vehicle after he got off the bus on Church Lane.

According to police, the boy sustained injuries to his right forearm and abrasions to the right side of his face. He was transported by the Marlboro First Aid Squad to CentraState Medical Center, Freehold Township.

The female driver received a small cut over her right eye, according to the police press release.

Wasser said the bus that was involved in the incident was not owned by the district or operated by an FRHSD employee. He said the bus was owned by the Milu Bus Service Inc., Cliffwood, and operated by an employee of that firm.

Milu is one of several private bus contractors the district uses to supplement its transportation fleet, he said.

Wasser said the bus driver's decision to allow the student to leave the bus at will and where he wanted to be let off was "totally against Board of Education policy."

The superintendent said he has been in contact with Milu officials to voice his concern regarding the violation of district policy by the driver and was assured by a Milu representative that the driver involved in the incident would not be returning to drive for the FRHSD.

"Thank God it was not more serious than it was," Wasser said.

A call to Milu seeking comment about the Oct. 16 incident was not returned.