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TUCKERTON - He admits it. He killed the turkey.

"I didn't mean to do it. It was an accident. He just ran right out in front of me," said James Sauer, 19, of Tuckerton, on Tuesday.

The wild turkey, called Tuckertom, was struck and killed Aug. 11 on Wood Street.

Tuckertom had been fed for years by a couple on Wood Street. After Tuckertom's death, a roadside memorial was erected for the bird.

Neighbors have disputed Sauer's version of the incident. Police were still investigating.

One of the witnesses police interviewed, Jim Roy, told The Press he saw Sauer and others in his car laughing at the scene.

"You could hear them hootin' and hollerin' in the car. There were feathers everywhere. I was madder than hell. It was like they were having a good time doing it. They stepped on the gas and sped away," Roy said Monday.

Sauer said he and his friends were laughing inside his car because he had just told a joke.

Sauer, a 2008 Pinelands Regional High School graduate, is unemployed. He serves as a volunteer firefighter at the Parkertown Volunteer Fire Company, where he has become the butt of jokes as a result of the turkey collision.

It's not the first time that he's been connected to road kill.

In 2008, Sauer was working at Jersey Mike's, a sub shop in Stafford Township, when he showed a Press reporter and several coworkers photographs of a dead opossum on the side of the road.

Sauer acknowledged Tuesday having and showing those photographs.

"Someone else hit that. I just took the picture because I thought it was funny," he said outside a firefighting class at the Ocean County Training Center Fire Academy in Waretown.

On Wednesday, Tuckerton police Cpl. Matthew Caufield said they were still investigating the turkey incident. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was contacted to assist police, Caufield said.

Darlene Yuhas, spokeswoman for the state Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife, said her agency also had launched an investigation.

Parkertown Deputy Fire Chief John DeBella said Monday he believes the death of Tuckertom was an accident.

The incident has become an in-house joke among the other firefighters, DeBella said. He pointed to a news article from last month on the wall of the firehouse garage.

The headline of the article was "Who Killed Tuckertom?" and scrawled below that someone wrote, "James! Did!"

"We're just busting his chops. It was an accident. It was a turkey. The guys have even thrown feathers at him," DeBella said.

DeBella said Tuckertom was a nuisance, and it was only a matter of time before someone killed him.

E-mail Donna Weaver:

DWeaver@pressofac.com

13 comments:

• frunza (3) posts 2:37 pm

  just a reminder our volunteers protect your community 24/7 with no pay many times leaving their love ones home alone while they go on call i cant tell you the numerous amount of birthdays holidays or even this morning on my aniversery while i had my wife and children out to breakfast and left to go on a call to assist the community

• frunza (3) posts 2:30 pm

  It also amazes me how my fire company is judged over this incident. Yes one of our members did hit the turkey and admitted it to L.E.H Police Department. What people forget the turkey was not dead after the accident, it was roaming around the next day on the road. So who took the turkey

• frunza (3) posts 2:27 pm

  It amazes me that people can pick on a volunteer organization that does such good for the community. As for computer problem, there is none but if someone can tell me of one im at the fire company every night and if you please come here and tell me about it. The Parkertown Fire Company has run over 200 calls this year, had 4 cpr saves, and staffed 24/7.

• allnewjersey (1) posts 1:31 pm

  The guys were just busting the kid for the accident. He wouldn't have run over the turkey on purpose. It was just an accident. How come nobody got this upset when a computer was seized from the fire company and kept for a year over allegations of child porn being downloaded?

• Local1 (1) posts 1:30 am

  Glad to see the the fire company sees this as a joke. They are showing just how professional and mature they really are. Are these the type of people we have that are supposed to be protecting us in the township. I for one will no longer be donating when their envelopes come in the mail or they are out on the road collecting coins. I dont believe that he told a joke when it happened. The sound the vehicle impacting the turkey had to have been noticeable enough to quell any type of laughter. Good thing it wasn't a child. If the local law enforcement doesn't do anything, I hope the state does, and the township should seriously think about removing this person from the fire company.

• LovinLife (1) posts 10:15 am

  It's not a matter of what type of animal this was, the issue here is this man's compasion for life. What kind of human being does that? That's just plain ignorant! He, along with his fellow volunteer firefighters, are giving the Parkertown Fire Dept. a really bad name. Parkertown Fire Dept. should be ashamed to have someone like this on their team. Who raised these people? Doesn't anyone teach their children respect these days? Apparently not. How sad...

• etucker (5) posts 1:16 pm

  If you think this is bad, ask about their little computer problem in Parkertown!

• cedarwater (15) posts 12:53 pm

  "what would you say if the turkey was a child" but it wasn't a child - it was a turkey. You know, that thing you eat at Thanksgiving and sometimes Christmas? While you laugh and have a good time during the dinner? Or do you put your head down when the turkey is being carved and cry out "but what if it was a child?!?!?!"

• I_SPY007 (6) posts 12:19 pm

  What is wrong in this state that we need to show off how much big government we have and launch a full scale forensic investigation into who hit a turkey. This state, the cops and the prosecutors need to get a life.

• vwsteve (79) posts 12:06 pm

  ztlos....what would you say if the taco I just ate was ground up baby. We could what if all day but really...does it apply here....geez.

• MrMister (14) posts 10:25 am

  It was not a kid ..........it was a food source. Don't keep food for pets. Next I guess you'll tell us how the turkeys friends in the woods feelings were hurt when he was killed. I want to send money to the Purdue Co. in his name to help with teaching other wild turkeys to look both ways before crossing the street...........I mean we all know what happened to the chicken who crossed the road............

• ztlos123 (3) posts 9:32 am

  what would you say if the turkey was a child

• JokersWild (16) posts 9:17 am

  ...pass the gravy.

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