Boro man indicted in fatal accident

The Monmouth County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging a 20-year-old Tinton Falls man with vehicular homicide on May 1.

According to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, Matthew LePree was charged with the second-degree crime as well as with aggravated assault, a second degree crime, and assault by auto, a third-degree crime.

The fatal motor vehicle collision occurred on the Garden State Parkway southbound in the area of milepost 112.9 in Middletown on Oct. 2, 2005, at 12:48 a.m.

Douglas Ballister, 65, of Neptune Township was killed in the crash and his passenger, a 47-year-old Ocean Township man, sustained life-threatening injuries. Several motor vehicle summonses, including driving while intoxicated, were issued to LePree at the time.

An investigation conducted by the Prosecutor's Office and the New Jersey State Police Fatal Accident Unit revealed that Ballister was operating a Toyota pickup truck, which was struck from behind by a Honda Civic operated by LePree. Both vehicles left the roadway and overturned.

Ballister was dead when state troopers arrived, according to the Prosecutor's Office. His passenger sustained serious internal injuries and broken ribs requiring extensive hospitalization at the trauma unit of Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune.

LePree is free on $35,000 bail. The next court proceeding will be an arraignment, when the formal presentation of the indictment will be presented to the defendant.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the arraignment will be scheduled within the next 45 days.