Texting driver hit bicyclist, police say

By Jim Walsh
GANNETT NEW JERSEY

Lisa Granert wore a reflective vest as she bicycled along Route 70, police said, but that offered no protection against the driver coming her way.

Medford police allege the motorist, Robert J. Sharrer, 28, of Browns Mills, was texting behind the wheel so he could arrange a drug deal when his car drifted onto the road's shoulder and hit Granert at about 6 p.m. Monday.

The collision, which hospitalized the Cherry Hill woman, came as police were searching along Route 70 for a vehicle that met the description of Sharrer's 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Other motorists had reported an erratic driver shortly before the accident occurred on the westbound side of the highway.

Granert, 42, suffered head injuries in the accident, just west of Route 541. The Elbow Lane resident "is known to travel this roadway daily and was wearing a reflective-style traffic vest," police said.

Granert struck her head on the car's windshield before falling to the ground, police said. She was flown to the trauma unit at Cooper University Hospital, Camden. Her condition was not known Tuesday.

According to police, Sharrer said he was texting while driving "regarding the sale of prescription (drugs) in his possession at the time of the crash."

Sharrer, who said he did not recall the collision, was taken to a hospital to submit blood samples, police said.

The New Jersey Avenue man was charged with drug possession with the intent to distribute. More charges are pending, police said