NJ man admits to causing older bicyclist’s death at Jersey Shore

🔶 NJ man guilty of manslaughter

🔶 Man died weeks after assault on street

🔶 Plea deal involves prison

A Seaside Heights man has admitted to causing the death of an older local man, who was knocked from his bicycle last year.

On Monday, 41-year-old Anthony Collins pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the death of 70-year-old Robert May, also of Seaside Heights, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer announced.

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Seaside Heights police responded the afternoon of Sept.18, 2023, to the area of Central Avenue and Sumner Avenue for a report of a fall victim.

Officers found May laying on the ground next to his bike, bleeding from a cut to his head.
May was treated at the scene but refused further medical assistance and returned home, police said.
An hour later, May was rushed to Community Medical Center in Toms River, after he had been acting erratically following his injury.

Police found that May had been assaulted by someone, which caused him to fall off his bike and strike his head on the pavement.

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Investigators with the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit and Seaside Heights police later determined that Collins was the attacker.

May’s condition continued to worsen and he was transferred to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

On Oct. 1, 2023, Mr. May died from his injuries.

The Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of May’s death to be blunt force injury during the assault a month earlier — and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.

Within two weeks, Collins was arrested and then held at Ocean County Jail.

The state would seek a term of three years prison for Collins, at his sentencing on Aug. 9.

“Certain proof problems in this case resulted in the State entering into a plea agreement with a recommended sentence that is below the normal sentencing range for manslaughter,” Billhimer said in a written statement on Tuesday.

“The victim’s family recognizes and understands those issues, and is in support of this resolution. I commend them for their compassionate and forgiving nature,” he added.

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