The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Mario Heslop, a 2019 Franklin High School graduate and track star, was killed June 19 in a three-car accident on Hamilton Street that is still under investigation.
According to the preliminary investigation, at about 5:30 p.m., Heslop, 23, was driving a 2013 Infiniti Q50S eastbound on Hamilton Street near the Hillcrest Avenue intersection when his car crossed the center line and crashed into a car driven by a Hillsborough resident, according to a release from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.
A third car then rear-ended the Hillsborough resident’s car.
Police and EMT personnel administered life-saving measures to Heslop, who was then taken to a local trauma center where he was pronounced dead, according to the release.
The drivers of the second and third cars involved in the accident were not identified by authorities. The Prosecutor’s release said the Hillsborough driver was treated at an area hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, while the third car’s driver refused medical attention.
Patrol officers, traffic safety officers, and detectives from the Franklin Township Police Department and the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Collision Analysis Reconstruction Team responded to conduct the investigation, according to the release.
Heslop was a standout on the Franklin High School boys’ track team, notching eight state Meet of Champions victories in his high school career, setting the state record in the 200-meter dash in 2019.
Also in 2019, Heslop ran the 4th-fastest 200-meter dash in the U.S., and was a national All-American in the 60-meter dash.
Heslop, considered one of the top New Jersey sprinters in 2019, briefly attended North Carolina State A&T University in Greensboro, N.C.
During the 2021-22 school year, he ran for Life University in Marion, Indiana. He also competed internationally, running for both the United States and Jamaica.
Anyone with information about the accident is asked to contact the Somerset County Prosecutors Office Major Crimes Unit at (908) 231-7100 or the Franklin Township Police Department at (732) 873-5533 or via the STOPit app. The STOPit app allows citizens to provide anonymous reports including videos and photos. STOPit can be downloaded to your smart phone for free at the Google Play Store or Apple App Store, access code: SOMERSETNJ. Information can also be provided through the Somerset County Crime Stoppers’ Tip Line at 1-888-577-TIPS (8477). All anonymous STOPit reports, and Crime Stopper tips will be kept confidential.
