TOMS RIVER, NJ—A Thurday evening crash that claimed the life of a 26-year-old motorcyclist in Toms River was the first in a flurry of fatal crashes throughout Central New Jersey.

According to published reports, Zachary Kane died in the hospital following the crash that ocurred at 10:14pm on August 4.

All told, at least six men and one woman died in crashes during a four-day period in Central Jersey.

The morning after Kane was hospitalized following his crash, Adam Rarela, an 18-year-old from Marlboro was killed when the box truck he was a passenger in slammed into a dump truck on Route 9, according to a press release from the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office (MCPO).

The MCPO release stated that the crash occurred at 6:52am and that Rarela was declared dead at the scene 26 minutes later.

The light had turned green and the dump truck began to move forward when it was struck by box truck at 6:52 a.m.

The driver of the dump truck was taken to Raritan Bay Medical Center, Old Bridge Division, and was released after being treated for injuries.

“No charges have been filed, but an investigation is active and is continuing,” read the MCPO release which was obtained by New Brunswick Today despite the agency’s decision to remove all of our reporters from their media list.

On Friday evening, another young man lost his life in a crash.  According to published reports, 19-year-old Randall Arvai was killed in a crash in Howell Township, which saw two fatal crashes in three days.

Then on Saturday, August 6, an avid cyclist and former journalist was killed after being struck while riding his bicycle in East Windsor.

Joseph Harvie, age 36, was remembered for his work as a journalist at the Princeton Packet as well as his involvement in the Monroe Township, where he had served as a public information officer.

Just a half-hour after the crash that claimed Harvie’s life, a 53-year-old woman was killed when the Toyota Rav-4 she was driving was struck by a Ford F-550 box truck.

“Upon arrival officers found a two car motor vehicle crash… Both of the vehicles were off the roadway and down an embankment,” read a press release from the Franklin Township Police Department (FTPD).

Cottontail Lane was closed for four and a half hours while firefighters extricated Adejoke Sanusi from her vehicle.  She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The other driver was 27-year-old Walter Washington of Parlin.

“The Ford was traveling southbound on Cottontail Lane when it failed to negotiate a curve in the roadway, crossed over the centerline, and struck the driver side of the Toyota,” read the FTPD press release.

Still, no charges were announced in the crash, and the release stated that “the factors that contributed to the incident are currently under investigation.”

Then, on Sunday, August 7, another two people were killed in fatal crashes.

At 3:28pm, 44-year-old Larry Campbell Jr. was ejected from his pickup truck after a crash in Howell Township on Route 33.

Around 7pm, a Maryland resident named Quincy Aubrey Ross died after a crash turned his vehicle upside-down on the New Jersey Turnpike in Cranbury. 

The MCPO has not yet released any statement on that fatal crash.

Editor at New Brunswick Today | 732-993-9697 | editor@newbrunswicktoday.com | Website

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.