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Frank Lando, that is: The 65-year-old Toms River motorcyclist, guitarist, and father killed in an April 9 crash in Southampton with a New Jersey state trooper.
On Friday, April 19, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin released Lando's identity, as well as that of the trooper involved: Anthony Fernandes.
Fernandes was conducting routine patrol duties along Route 70 around 11:35 a.m. in Southampton that day, when his marked patrol car collided with Lando's motorcycle near Burrs Mill Road, Platkin said. Lando was taken to Virtua Mount Holly Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at approximately 12:45 p.m.
Fernandes did not suffer significant injuries and the circumstances leading to and surrounding the crash remain under investigation, Platkin said.
A father and retired system programmer analyst for UPS, Lando — who went by Frankie Fender on Facebook — was being remembered as a "sublimely talented" musician. He recently been playing as the lead and rhythm guitarist in the Hackensack-based band Voice of Doom, and as bassist in the cover bands, Sound Matters, and Dune Lane, his obituary on the Shook Funeral Home website reads.
"His musicianship was impressive, and certainly a key part of his life, but even more impressive was his commitment to his loved ones," the obituary says. "Frank was a hugely positive influence in the lives of all friends and family, and his knack for practicality and fiscal thinking has provided a comforting blanket of intellectualism, reasoning, and general security for everybody who has ever been fortunate enough to intimately know him.
"His good habits rubbed off on those around him, and he generally reminded us in many ways, without ever needing to say it, of how we can be better for both ourselves, and for those whom we care about."
The crash investigation is being conducted pursuant to Attorney General Directive 2019-4, which implements the statutory requirement that the Attorney General’s Office conduct the investigation of any death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody, and which establishes clear standards and procedures for conducting such investigations.
Services were held at the Shook Funeral Home in Clifton. Cremation was private.
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