Suspended Driver Ran Red Light In Route 70 Crash, Child 'Critical': Prosecutor Says

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A child is hospitalized in critical condition Friday, one of four people who were injured when a Jackson man with a suspended license ran a red light in a rental pickup and hit their car head-on on Route 70, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced Friday.

Charles J. Sharkey Jr., 33, of Jackson Township, has been charged with four counts of aggravated assault, four counts of assault by auto, unlawful taking of a means of conveyance, causing death or injury while driving with a suspended or revoked driver’s license, and multiple motor vehicle summonses, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

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Billhimer said the crash happened about 4 p.m. Toms River police on Thursday said the crash happened seconds after someone called 911 to report an erratic driver.

Sharkey was driving east on Route 70 in the 2022 Dodge Ram 1500 and failed to stop at the red light at the Massachusetts Avenue intersection. He grazed the rear of a 2016 Honda CRV that was turning left onto Massachusetts Avenue from Route 70 west then hit a 2017 Subaru Impreza that also was trying to turn left onto Massachusetts Avenue from Route 70 west, investigators determined.

The impact pushed the Impreza backward and caused it to spin, and the pickup truck overturned and came to rest on the driver's side and caught fire, investigators determined. As the pickup overturned it grazed a 2021 Lexus RX 350 causing minor damage, investigators determined.

The man who was driving the Impreza and three children who were with him were injured, Billhimer said. All four were taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where the man and two of the children were treated and released. The third child suffered serious injuries and remains hospitalized in critical condition, Billhimer said. Authorities did not provide the ages or hometowns of the children or the man.

Investigators learned Sharkey had been driving erratically and was using a cell phone just before the crash, and that he was driving despite having a suspended driver’s license, Billhimer said. He also had two active warrants for his arrest, the prosecutor said; the nature of those warrants was not immediately known.

The Dodge Ram was rented, and Sharkey had taken it without the consent of the person who had rented it, Billhimer said.

Sharkey was taken to Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood for treatment of injuries he suffered in the crash, and while he was there, detectives obtained a warrant for a draw of Sharkey’s blood, Billhimer said. The laboratory results of that remain pending.

Sharkey is being held at the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing, and Billhimer said additional charges may be forthcoming.

The crash shut down the Route 70-Massachusetts Avenue intersection for several hours for the investigation, tying up traffic on nearby roads as drivers tried to work their way around the crash site.

Cox Cro Road was bumper-to-bumper from Route 9 west to Massachusetts Avenue, and Route 9 southbound was jammed as cars trying to go south were prevented from getting on the ramp to go west on Route 70. Traffic from Massachusetts Avenue southbound was forced to go west on Route 70.

Billhimer said the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Vehicular Homicide Squad, Toms River police and detectives, and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit combined on the investigation.

Toms River police said multiple EMS and fire companies responded to assist the victims and put out the fire.

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