Lakewood Pedestrian Was Hit Twice In Fatal Christmas Accident: PD

LAKEWOOD, NJ -- A Lakewood man has been identified as the pedestrian killed on Christmas Day when he was struck by two cars as he tried to cross Cedar Bridge Avenue, Lakewood police said.

Roger A. Conover, 45, died Monday evening at Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood, where he was taken following the accident, Lakewood Detective Sgt. Gregory Staffordsmith said.

Conover was crossing Cedar Bridge Avenue just west of Martin Luther King Drive about 7:30 p.m. when he was hit by a 1997 Nissan Maxima driven by a 47-year-old Jackson Township woman, Staffordsmith said. The Nissan was eastbound on Cedar Bridge, he said.

Conover was then hit a second time by a 2017 Toyota Sienna that was westbound on Cedar Bridge and was being driven by a 33-year-old Lakewood man, Staffordsmith said.

Conover was taken by Hatzolah to the hospital in critical condition but later succumbed to his injuries, Staffordsmith said.

"At this time the investigation is still ongoing and charges have not been filed against anyone involved," he said.

Conover is the fifth pedestrian struck and killed in Ocean County in December and the 14th person to be killed in a traffic accident in Lakewood this year. A 53-year-old Lakewood woman, Irene Perosi, died Dec. 5 when she was hit while crossing Shorrock Street. Authorities said she was not in a crosswalk at the time. Two people were killed in a three-day span in Toms River, and on Christmas Eve a Lakewood man, Michael Cappello, 41, was killed when he was struck while walking along Route 88.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Officer Justin Pederson of the Lakewood Police Department at 732-363-0200 ext. 5322 or Investigator Brad Frank of the Ocean County Prosecutors Office at 732-929-2027.

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