Man Admits Fatally Punching Bicyclist In Seaside Heights

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Seaside Heights man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of a man he punched during a confrontation in 2023, authorities said Tuesday.

Anthony P. Collins, 41, pleaded guilty on Monday before Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan in the Oct. 1, 2023 death of Robert May, 70, of Seaside Heights.

The plea agreement calls for a three-year prison sentence, subject to the state's No Early Release Act, at the time of sentencing, scheduled for August, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

May, who also lived in Seaside Heights, was found on the ground next to his bicycle, bleeding from a cut on his head in the area of Central and Sumner avenues about 4 p.m. on Sept. 18, 2023, authorities have said.

He was treated at the scene and refused further medical assistance, and went home. About 5 p.m. that day, Seaside Heights police were called with a report that May had been acting erratically since the fall, and he was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River for treatment. From Community he was transferred to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, but died of his injuries on Oct. 1.

Detectives in the meantime had learned May had been assaulted, which caused him to fall off the bike and hit his head, and that Collins had been the person who hit May. An autopsy showed he died from blunt force trauma, authorities said.

Collins was charged Oct. 4 and has been in the Ocean County Jail since he surrendered to Seaside Heights police on Oct. 15.

During his plea, Collins told Ryan that he had walked out of Babe's Corner Store at 131 Sumner Ave. and was approached by May, who was on a bicycle, said Terrence L. Turnbach, the attorney representing Collins.

Collins told Ryan that May called him a racial slur, and punched May in the face in response, knocking May to the ground where he hit his head on the curb.

"Mr. Collins has accepted responsibility for his conduct on September 18, 2023," Turnbach said in a statement issued to reporters. "He is eager to complete his period of incarceration and return to his children, his fiancé and his work."

"Certain proof problems in this case resulted in the state entering into a plea agreement with a recommended sentence that is below the normal sentencing range for manslaughter," Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said. "The victim’s family recognizes and understands those issues, and is in support of this resolution. I commend them for their compassionate and forgiving nature."