Wawa Worker Fatally Struck By Truck After Fight With NJ Teen: Police

OLD BRIDGE, NJ — An Old Bridge Wawa employee has now died, after he was hit by a pick-up truck driven by a teenage boy in December, said Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone.

The teen deliberately drove into him after the two got into an argument, said the prosecutor.

Andrew Padulano, 61, died Jan. 23. He was working at the Wawa on Rt. 34 on Dec. 4 when the incident occurred:

A 17-year-old teen boy from Old Bridge was criminally charged in his death. Police say the teen got into an argument with Padulano that morning, and then hit him with his Ford F-150 truck. The teen, unnamed because he is a minor, fled the scene. Because Padulano died, the teen has now been charged with first-degree murder.

At 7:41 a.m. on Dec. 4, Old Bridge Police responded to the Wawa for a report of a pedestrian struck. They found Padulano with serious injuries and he was taken to Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge. He was later transferred to Jersey Shore Regional Medical Center, and that is where he died last Tuesday.

Padulano lived locally in Old Bridge.

The juvenile was located. He was initially charged with first-degree attempted murder and third-degree leaving the scene of a crash resulting in serious bodily injury. But with Padulano's death, charges against the juvenile were upgraded to first-degree murder and second-degree leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death.

This investigation was done by Officer Henry Penley of the Old Bridge Police Department and Sergeant Jonathan Berman of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. The teen was arrested and then released back home to his family while the case against him proceeds.