Posthumous Degree Set For Toms River Man Struck, Killed By Police Officer: Report

(Photo via Anderson & Campbell Funeral Home)

A Toms River man who was killed this summer when he was struck by a police car in Lacey Township will receive his his college degree posthumously in the spring, according to a report.

The Asbury Park Press report said Neil Van De Putte, who was a 4.0 physics major at Drew University, will be awarded an honorary degree in May, at the time he was expected to graduate.

Van De Putte died about 3:30 a.m. on July 5 when he was struck on Lacey Road by the police car driven by Lacey Patrolman Andrew Slota, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

The incident remains under investigation, the prosecutor’s office has said.

Van De Putte, who had received an award for his research -- the Marshall C. Harrington Prize in Physics and Astronomy for an outstanding physics research project -- had hopes of attending Columbia University, according to the Asbury Park Press.

To honor his memory, Van De Putte’s mother, Yvonne Yaar-Sharkey, started a scholarship fund in his name that will be administered by Drew University, according to the fund’s Facebook page, The Neil Van De Putte Fund for Excellence in Physics and Math.

Read more about the Drew University announcement here.