NJ corrections officer gets prison for killing pedestrian on Rt 9

⚠️ John DeTulio was sentenced to five years for the Route 9 death of Harvey Berse.

➡️ Investigators found DeTulio was driving 96 mph, seconds before the crash.

🔴 After a separate case ended with DeTulio pleading guilty to bribery, he lost his corrections job.

A 41-year-old former corrections officer gets five years in prison after admitting to hitting and killing a 69-year-old pedestrian along Route 9.

John DeTulio pleaded guilty a year ago to second-degree vehicular manslaughter in the killing of Harvey Berse of Old Bridge.

At sentencing on Aug. 28, Middlesex County Superior Court Judge James Hoebich also ordered that DeTulio, now of Freehold Township, have his driver’s license suspended for nine years.

Investigators found DeTulio was driving 96 mph seconds before crash

On Jan.28, 2022, just before 1:30 a.m., Old Bridge Police responded to a crash along Route 9 near Ferry Road.

Officers found that a 2013 Ford Explorer struck and killed Berse in the southbound lanes.

Blood alcohol test results showed DeTulio, who lived in Colts Neck at the time of the crash, was just beyond the legal limit.

Investigators recovered the SUV’s event data recorder and also found DeTulio had been going 96 miles per hour five seconds before the crash.

He applied the brake and was going 89 mph at the time of impact.

Plea deal saw a first-degree aggravated manslaughter and a hindering charge dismissed.

DeTulio also faced a separate misconduct case

At the time of the deadly wreck, DeTulio was a senior correctional officer at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.

In an unrelated incident, months earlier in October 2021, DeTulio was charged with misconduct.

He was accused of delivering $200 to a civilian on behalf of an inmate and $300 to an inmate while on the job with the Department of Corrections.

DeTulio recently pleaded guilty to third-degree bribery in that case.

He was ultimately fired, New Jersey Monitor reported.

Berse, a New York native, was killed two months before his 70th birthday, according to Dignity Memorial.

These 31 convicted killers were pardoned by Gov. Murphy

In a one year span, Gov. Phil Murphy granted clemency to over 283 individuals convicted of various crimes. Of those, at least 31 have been pardoned and released early from state prison after they were convicted of murder and aggravated manslaughter. After release, each person is subject to five years of parole supervision.

Gallery Credit: Rick Rickman

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