State Police Used Helicopter to Search for Injured Man

State Police used a helicopter in the early hours of Sunday to track down an injured man who had left a car accident at the arts center, said police. 

Sgt. Michael Lavin said that around 11:30 p.m Saturday, police were alerted to a one-car accident in the area of Celebrity Drive, which winds up from the PNC Bank Arts Center and curves behind the Vietnam Era Educational Center, at the memorial. The car had hit a tree.  "There was no driver in the vehicle," said Lavin. 

Police searched the area on foot for the man for some time before resorting to the helicopter to search the woods, he said. They later located him wandering along the road in another part of the complex. 

"He was injured and disoriented. He didn't know what he was doing," said Lavin. The man was transported to Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel. 

Cynthia Bajorek of Holmdel said she was awakened at 5 a.m. on June 26 to the thrum of a State Police helicopter hanging above the forest in her back yard. 

"It has hung there now for 20 minutes," she said in an email to Patch at 5:30 a.m. "Finding no info on the TV, radio or Internet, I called the Holmdel Police, who advised me the State Police are looking for a fugitive, and to keep my doors and windows locked. The Holmdel Police could give out no further information."

Holmdel Police, reached Sunday morning, directed all calls to the state police. 

"He was never a fugitive," said Sgt. Lavin. "He was just injured and disoriented."