Outrage As N.J. Driver, Expected To Live, Dies After Dumbbell Smashes Windshield

Jack DeCarlo was on his way to Myrtle Beach, when something unthinkable happened. Even then, after a dumbbell landed through his windshield, people who knew the New Jersey man expected him to pull through.

Now there's outrage just two days after the New Jersey man died more than two weeks after the tragedy — even after his condition had been upgraded.

"This seems like premeditated murder," one person wrote on Facebook, "not a prank gone wrong. Hope police there look into all angles."

The crash happened on the New Jersey Turnpike southbound side at milepost 6.6 in Oldman's Township on Jan. 9, sending 75-year-old DeCarlo of Hamilton, Mercer County, to the hospital, according to police.

Immediately following the accident, DeCarlo was airlifted to Crozer Regional Trauma Center in Upland, Pennsylvania, with facial injuries, and a passenger in the vehicle, Patricia DeCarlo, 57, suffered minor injuries, police said.

Authorities said they have no idea why the dumbbell smashed through the windshield, but there is an overpass in the area of the accident. Pointers Auburn Road and Auburn Road cross over the roadway in that area. The incident temporarily shut down lanes on the southbound side of the roadway, police said.

The victim was hit by the 50-pound dumbbell — or debris from the windshield — after it went through the windshield, police said.

DeCarlo initially was upgraded from critical to stable condition, and his son spoke to reporters about his father soon after the accident.

Then, the state police confirmed that DeCarlo died on Tuesday, but no information on the cause was revealed pending an autopsy.

That sparked a backlash on social media from people who called for revenge against those who may have been responsible.

Photo courtesy of NBC10