Manalapan Township dedicated Nottingham Way to local hero Kyle Mullen. Mayor Cohen, Deputy Mayor Musich, and Township Committee members Jack McNaboe, Barry Jacobson, and Eric Nelson, were proud to be present for the ceremony. We thank Kyle’s family for allowing us to honor him. We thank Kyle’s brother TJ for his thoughts about the two of them growing up together and Mom Regina’s heartfelt words about the changes she wants to see. Thank you to Deputy Chief Lenny Maltese, the Manalapan Police and Honor Guard, Chief Richard Hogan and Manalapan’s Fire Company, Department of Public Works Director Alan Spector and staff, Administrator Tara Lovrich, Sheriff Shaun Golden and County Commissioner Nick DiRocco for attending the dedication. It was a fitting way to start Memorial Day weekend by honoring a true hero.

Kyle Mullen was training to become a Navy Seal. He called his mom, Regina Mullen, happy to share the good news that he survived Hell Week. His mother, being a nurse, was concerned because he was out of breath and she could tell he was having a hard time breathing. This would be the last conversation her and Kyle would have.

Regina shared the follow events;

“Friday morning, after completing Hell Week, he was laid flat on his back on the floor of the barracks, upon a mattress, with his legs up, his mom explaining that it is what all of the SEAL candidates were made to do. “That was protocol.”

In a Facebook page set up in remembrance of Kyle, his mother shared the following horror her son faced;

“A 19-year-old boy with no medical background looked after him. Kyle turned blue and spit up blood all over the barracks.”


“Paramedics [via 911 had been] called for another boy, whose lips were blue. They arrived and came into the barracks to look at Kyle. My son died in the arms of the 19-year-old, who now feels terrible and blames himself for what happened; he shouldn’t, since it was not his fault. Paramedics worked on Kyle for 30 minutes and were unable to revive him. He was pronounced dead in a community hospital 30 minutes away.”

“Navy medics, normally in nearby quarters had knocked off for the day at noon. “Somebody was supposedly on call, but they were not answering the phone.”

“They say he died in the hospital. But that is where he was pronounced dead. He died in the barracks, under the Navy’s watch. Navy medics were called three times and did not answer. That is why 911 finally had to be called. And why did they take him to an off-site hospital to pronounce him dead?”

Regina received the autopsy results last week. The US army Regional Medical Examiner wrote of a horrible ending to Kyle’s life. The medical examiner wrote in her report the following:

“This sailor had completed Hell Week and was being looked after by nonmedical personnel to help him tend to his basic needs, He was in a wheelchair most of the time, unable to stand and walk on his own. He had reportedly been coughing/spitting up red-tinged fluid which had nearly filled a 36 oz. sports drink bottle.

The report names the official cause of death as “acute pneumonia due to Streptococcus pyogenes.” Streptococcus pyogenes is a Group A strep bacteria, which the report says “is capable of causing multiorgan failure and cardiovascular collapse via toxic shock.”

Regina shares this information because she ”want the public to know what happened, This wasn’t right.” The curtain needs to be pulled back on this whole thing,I am not letting this go. It’s disgusting.”

We at Ocean County Scanner News send our heartfelt condolences to Regina and Kyle’s family and friends.

Photo Credit to Peter Quaranta.