Highlands: Don't blame us for pedestrian brain injuries after speeding firefighter hit him

Jared Donnelly’s five-and-a-half-year quest to be compensated for the accident that left him brain damaged — while walking through a crosswalk in Highlands in 2018, he was struck by a speeding car driven by a Highlands volunteer firefighter — has hit another roadblock.

The attorney representing Highlands, Sarah Delahant, filed a motion to dismiss the borough as a defendant in the civil case brought by Donnelly.

The motion contends that the borough had no agency over the firefighter, John McKay, because he was a volunteer and not a paid employee, and even if he was considered an employee, McKay was “outside the scope of his employment at the time of the accident in question” because he was traveling to the station to report to work rather than directly to the site of the emergency.

“I was really taken aback by this,” said Robert King, Jared’s father. “If this gets dismissed, my son will be in severe debt and he will never survive.”

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According to an investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s fatal accident unit, McKay “was proceeding north on Bay Avenue in his capacity as a volunteer fireman with the Highlands Fire Department, and he was responding to the fire house located on Shore Drive, as a result of a carbon monoxide alarm activation requiring fire department personnel response.”

The report said McKay’s Buick was going 44 mph in a 25-mph zone. It concluded that the collision “was precipitated by Mr. McKay’s high-speed approach to the intersection coupled with his failure to keep to the right during his left turn and his failure to make proper observations of Mr. Donnelly’s position within a marked crosswalk.”

It also noted “serious injuries to the pedestrian” and documented lacerations on Donnelly’s face, bruising and swelling in the posterior of his skull, and injuries to his shoulder, thigh, hip and ankle as he recovered in Jersey Shore University Medical Center’s intensive care unit in Neptune.

According to Donnelly’s civil complaint, filed in Monmouth County Superior Court, pain and cognitive impairment have left him permanently disabled. Now 31, he suffers from short-term memory loss, his father said, to the point where he can’t be left alone in their Highlands home — Jared has at times started the stove to cook something and left it unattended, forgetting it was on.

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McKay was issued five summonses, including one for reckless driving. Last month, after a dozen court-date postponements over a five-year span, they finally were resolved with a downgrade to a single guilty plea for careless driving.

That allowed Donnelly’s civil lawsuit against the Borough of Highlands, the Highlands fire department and McKay to go forward. Donnelly is seeking unspecified damages for past and future medical expenses, loss of wages, loss of function, pain and suffering. King said they’ve rejected a mediator’s offer of $1.375 million that will not adequately cover the costs of decades of disability.

A court hearing on the borough's motion to dismiss is scheduled for March 28. King

"Without accountability, there can be no justice," Donnelly's attorney, Brian Schiller, told the Asbury Park Press. "We will not stop, bend or break until Jared gets the justice that he deserves."

Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Highlands wants out of pedestrian suit over speeding firefighter