Seaside Heights Man Charged With Manslaughter After Allegedly Pushing Senior off Bicycle

Anthony Collins (Photo: Ocean County Jail)

A Seaside Heights man is facing manslaughter charges – among others – after being accused of assaulting a senior citizen riding a bicycle. The man later died at a local hospital.

According to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, Anthony Collins, 40, of Seaside Heights, was charged with manslaughter and endangering an injured cictim in connection with the death of Robert May, 70, of Seaside Heights, on Oct. 1, 2023.

Prosecutors, in a statement released Monday, said officers were called to the area of Central Avenue and Sumner Avenue on Sept. 18 at about 4 p.m. for a report of a fall victim. The responding officers found a male victim – later identified as May – laying on the ground next to his bicycle. May was observed to be bleeding from a laceration to his head and was initially treated at the scene and refused further medical assistance.

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Officials say he then left the area and returned to his residence. Police officers still investigated, however, ultimately determined May was assaulted by another individual, which caused him to fall off his bicycle and strike his head on the pavement. Just an hour later, Seaside Heights officers received a call that the man was acting erratically at home and responded along with EMTs for medical assistance.

May was transported by the Tri-Boro First Aid Squad from his home to Community Medical Center in Toms River, where his condition continued to deteriorate, prosecutors said, and he was subsequently transferred to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

On Oct. 1, 2023, May succumbed to his injuries. An autopsy conducted that day by the Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of May’s death to be blunt force injury resulting from the assault which occurred in Seaside Heights on Sept. 18, 2023, and the manner of his death to be homicide.

A continuing investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit and Seaside Heights Police Department determined that Collins was suspected of assaulting May on Sept. 18, ultimately resulting in his death.

On Oct. 4, 2023, a warrant was issued for Collins’ arrest, and his name was entered in the National Crime Information Center database. On Sunday 15, Collins surrendered himself at Seaside Heights Police Department Headquarters. He was transported to the Ocean County Jail, where he is presently lodged pending a detention hearing.