Ice cream truck driver pleads guilty in NJ fatal

FREEHOLD, N.J. – An ice cream truck driver who admitted he was driving drunk when he struck and killed a fallen pedestrian on a New Jersey highway has pleaded guilty to several charges.

Forty-six-year-old Walter Poland of Farmingdale entered the pleas Monday in state Superior Court in Freehold.

Judge Richard English indicated he will sentence Poland to five years in prison.

Prosecutors say Poland struck 54-year-old John Chiarell of Wall shortly after 7 p.m. on Oct. 4. Chiarell, who used a walker, had fallen and was lying on the shoulder of Route 35 in Wall Township.

Poland did not stop or report the incident. A witness led police to him.

Poland pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license, driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a fatal accident.