Full Notification

On September 19, 2021, at 11:05 pm, Middle Township Police responded to the area of Shunpike Road and Stites Avenue for a motor vehicle crash involving a vehicle and a bicyclist.  The driver of the vehicle left the scene and continued to drive south on Shunpike Road.  At 11:12 pm, Middle Township Police responded to the 300 block of Stagecoach Road for a report of a motor vehicle that struck a parked vehicle in a driveway. The vehicle, matching the description of the previous accident, was observed leaving the scene, continuing to travel west on Stagecoach Road.  Officers responding to the area were able to locate the vehicle in the front yard of 75 Route 47 S, after it struck a retaining wall causing the vehicle to become inoperable.  Officers found the vehicle unoccupied and the driver was believed to have fled on foot.  After an extensive search the driver, Paul Koscinski 21 years of age from the Green Creek section of Middle Township, was later located and arrested.  The bicyclist, identity being withheld at this time, was transported to Atlantic Care Medical Center City Division with life threatening injuries.  Koscinski was charged with Assault by Auto; 2C:12-1C(2).  The Middle Township Crash Team and Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office Crime Scene Unit are investigating the crash.  The New Jersey State Police Aviation Bureau and the Cape May County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit assisted with the search for Koscinski.  All charges are accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless he is proven guilty.