Toms River Man Pleads Guilty In Fatal Hit-And-Run

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — A Toms River man has pleaded guilty in a Metuchen hit-and-run crash that killed a Whippany man in Metuchen in March, the Middlesex County prosecutor's office has announced.

Paddy Flynn, who was 18 at the time of the crash, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a second-degree charge of knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in death, and a third-degree charge of causing death by driving without a license, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said.

Michael Bergamasco, 51, of Whippany, who was a utility worker, was hit by Flynn's white Ford F250 pickup truck in a crosswalk at the intersection of Middlesex and Grove avenues about 9 a.m. on March 2, authorities said at the time.

Bergamasco was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and died March 6 of the injuries he suffered in the crash.

Flynn drove off, but a witness was able to help authorities identify Flynn, and he was arrested within hours of the crash after the investigation by Sgt. Robert Belluscio of the Metuchen Police Department and Detective Jonathan Berman of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office..

Under the plea agreement reached with Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Keith Abrams, Flynn will be sentenced to 3 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 8 before Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Paone.

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