On Aug. 27, Dineshkumar Patel, 39, of Ocean Township, was sentenced to a three-year state prison term for the second-degree crime of knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in death.

The charge stems from a fatal motor vehicle vs. pedestrian hit-and-run collision that occurred during the early morning hours of Aug. 25, 2009, on Route 33 in Howell.

According to a press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, as a result of Patel’s actions, Thomas Kovacs, 59, of Howell, died.

A joint investigation into Kovacs’ death was conducted by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, the Howell Police Department and the Serious Collision Analysis Response Team (SCART).

The investigation revealed that Patel was operating his work truck and traveling westbound on Route 33 when he allowed his truck to drift onto the shoulder, at which time the truck struck Kovacs, who was walking along the side of the road.

At the time of the collision, Patel was making deliveries for his employer, a Freehold area food and beverage business. Knowing that he struck something, Patel stopped at a nearby gas station to look at the damage to his work truck. The damage to the truck was significant, according to the press release.

The truck impacted with Kovacs so forcefully that the passenger-side mirror assembly was damaged, the passenger door was bent, and the window in the passenger door shattered.

Patel did not return to the area of the collision and he did not report the collision to police, although he did report it to his supervisors at work.

Patel entered a guilty plea to the charge on June 28, 2010, pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement. The guilty plea was entered before state Superior Court Judge Jamie S. Perri, sitting in Freehold, who also imposed the sentence. The terms of the negotiated plea agreement provided for the prosecutor’s office to recommend that Perri sentence Patel to the three-year state prison term.

Patel has been held in the Monmouth County jail in lieu of bail in the amount of $75,000, cash only, since his arrest on Sept. 1, 2009. As part of the sentence, Patel was legally entitled to, and granted, credit for the 359 days he spent in custody prior to being sentenced.