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

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River man has pleaded guilty to two charges in a hit-and-run crash that killed a Lakewood teenager in October.

Alexander V. Politan, 31, is scheduled to be sentenced on April 17 after he pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in death and driving with a suspended license, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said. The sentence being recommended to Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan is seven years in prison, Billhimer said.

Jesús López Grande, 15, and his father, Jesús López Ramirez, 37, were hit as they walked near the shoulder of Oak Street south of Albert Avenue in Lakewood about 9:20 p.m. on Oct. 4, as López Grande was going home from work at a nearby Dunkin Donuts.

López Ramirez suffered an elbow injury, authorities said. His son was found lying face down in the driveway of a home on Oak Street. López Grande suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Debris left at the scene allowed authorities to identify the vehicle as a black 2014 Jeep Cherokee. After an extensive search, one matching the description was found in the driveway of a New Hampshire Avenue home in Toms River two days later, and it had damage to the passenger side, the prosecutor's office said.

Politan, who was not home at the time, was identified as the driver and arrested two days later. He has been in the Ocean County Jail since his arrest. His driving privileges had been repeatedly suspended for failure to appear in court, according to driving records released by the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission. He had repeated instances of summonses for careless or dangerous driving, according to motor vehicle commission records.

Billhimer acknowledged the efforts of Senior Assistant Prosecutor Robert Cassidy, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Vehicular Homicide Unit, the Lakewood Township Police Department, the Toms River Police Department, and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit.

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