MIDDLETOWN – With heavy eyes and a brow furrowed with worry, Paul Procopio shook his head over what happened to his granddaughter, struck and killed by a vehicle in a hit-and-run while she was crossing state Highway 36, Tuesday evening. “She’s my granddaughter, my first one,” he said. “She’s so young and to have this happen to her…” he added with another shake of the head, clearly translating into, How could this happen? “You never think this is going to happen to someone in your family,” he said, while standing behind the counter of the family-owned and operated Willow Cleaners dry cleaning business, Little Silver.
According to police, Marissa Procopio, 15, succumbed to the injuries sustained in the collision at 3:46 p.m. at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, according to Deputy Chief Stephen Dollinger, a police spokesman.
A car struck Procopio at approximately 8:25 p.m., while Procopio was attempting to cross the highway at the Avenue D intersection, in the township’s Leonardo section.
The light grey compact car was traveling west on Highway 36 and fled the scene before police arrived, according to Dollinger, a police spokesman.
Investigating officers identified the alleged driver as Toni Marletta, 49, Leonardo. No charges have been filed and the investigation is ongoing, Dollinger said.
Police are asking anyone with information to contact the department’s traffic bureau, 732-615-2140.
Marissa Procopio, an Atlantic Highlands resident who attended Henry Hudson Regional High School was 15, and would have turned 16 in November, noted her cousin, Melissa Procopio, 19, who said “Right now I can’t put anything together in my head,” Melissa said about this, as her head still reeled from the shock.
Melissa was on her way home to meet her mother’s 9 p.m. curfew, said Paul Procopio. “I almost certain she was crossing (the highway) correctly,” Procopio believed. “She knows to do that.”
“It looked like she (Marissa) had the right of way because the light was red for the highway cars,” said an employee who asked not to be identified of the Traveling Tortillas restaurant, 949 Highway 36. “I think they were trying to beat the light,” the employee said of the vehicle.
The restaurant’s owners were donating 50 percent of all sales on Wednesday to help Marissa and her family, the owner told The Two River Times.
“She’s just a loving and very active girl,” Melissa said of her cousin earlier on Wednesday, with family members telling of her involvement in the high school band and many other activities.
Paul recalled Marissa’s intelligence and playfulness, spending a lot of time at the family business, especially when she was little. He recalled their time together, remembering fondly the time he accompanied her to the school’s father/daughter dance.
“When I look back,” he said, his voiced strained with emotion, “I wish there was more I had done with her.”
– By John Burton and Heather Nelson
