Officials still investigating; victim was not in crosswalk when hit by SUV’s sideview mirror
Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect that the accident is still being investigated.
OCEAN CITY – A motor vehicle accident on Asbury Avenue last Thursday, Jan. 13, has left a pedestrian dead.
City public information officer Doug Bergen said police and fire responded to an 11:28 a.m. call reporting a collision involving a motor vehicle and a pedestrian at Seventh Street and Asbury Avenue. The pedestrian was transported Atlantic City Medical Center with head trauma, he said. The victim later succumbed to his injuries.
A family member, Kurt Englebert, identified the pedestrian as his cousin, John Wilson, 83, a resident of the city. Englebert said Wilson died within hours of the accident on Thursday at the hospital.
He contacted the Sentinel Tuesday morning and posted a message on Facebook looking for information because he said the police report was not yet available. Englebert lives in Ocean City and also resides in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Englebert said from his understanding after talking informally with a police officer who was on the scene, Wilson suffered head injuries after being clipped by a vehicle’s sideview mirror after stepping out into the street between two parked cars. After the Sentinel’s print deadline, Bergen updated the information, confirming the victim was John Francis Wilson Jr.
He said the accident was investigated by the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office Fatal Accident Unit and the Ocean City Police Department.According to Bergen, police said Wilson stepped out onto Asbury Avenue and was not in a crosswalk when he was struck by a 2013 Ford Explorer operated by Douglas Montealegre, 33, of Philadelphia, who was driving north on Asbury Avenue.
Police, he said, are still investigating. Montealegre was cited for operating while his license was suspended involving an accident resulting in serious bodily injury. The driver also was found to have two outstanding warrants for his arrest. He was processed and released on his own recognizance.
Englebert said Wilson was a few months from turning 84 years old and had lived in Ocean City for 30 years.
Wilson was originally from Philadelphia and attended Northeast Catholic High School. He served in the U.S. Air Force and never married.
“He was a very private person who lived in a very small apartment at Crescent Lodge on Seventh Street,” Englebert said. “A lot of the local people in and around Asbury where he was living and where he would go in for breakfast – all the small breakfast shops – would have known him. I don’t know if they even know what happened to him.”
– By DAVID NAHAN, Sentinel staff
