Howell Man Charged With DWI In Wrong-Way Route 70 Crash That Killed Nurse

BRICK, NJ — A 58-year-old nurse has been identified as the woman killed when her car was hit head-on in a wrong-way crash on Route 70 early Friday.

Anne Rasmussen, 58, of the Whiting section of Manchester, was killed in the crash about 5 a.m. Friday near the Lowe's home improvement store on Route 70 in Brick, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Saturday.

Rasmussen was driving west on Route 70 when her Volkswagen Beetle was hit head-on by a Toyota Rav 4 driven by Jose Romero Quinteros, 53, of Howell, the prosecutor's office said.

Romero Quinteros, who was driving east in the westbound lanes on the wrong side of the concrete barrier that separates the lanes, has been charged with driving while intoxicated and reckless driving in motor vehicle summonses, the prosecutor's office said. The investigation is continuing.

He had to be extricated from the Toyota and was in critical but stable condition at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, authorities said.

Rasmussen, who died at the scene, was on her way home from work at the time of the crash, according to a GoFundMe campaign created by her daughter, Kelly Kracsun.

"She spent a lot of her life dedicated to helping people working as an ER nurse," Kracsun wrote. "She would take the shirt off her back for absolutely anyone and would do anything for the people she loved."

Rasmussen is survived by her husband, her daughter, two sons, two brothers, her mother, and "three grandchildren with another on the way," Kracsun wrote, along with a large extended family. "Our family will never be the same."

"I hope everyone hugs their loved ones a little tighter tonight because you truly never know when it might be the last time," she wrote.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been set. Those wishing to contribute to the GoFundMe can do so here.

The prosecutor's office is urging anyone with information to call Detective Joseph Mitchell of the prosecutor's office at 732-929-2027, ext. 3532, or Officer David Thergesen of the Brick Township Police Department at 732-262-1100.