Woman Killed As Car Goes Airborne And Lands In Drainage Ditch In Ocean County

LAKEWOOD, NJ — A 52-year-old woman was killed Tuesday morning in a crash in Lakewood where a car went airborne twice, traveling more than 189 feet through the air before landing upside down in a drainage ditch, authorities said.

The woman was not identified. She was found trapped in the passenger seat of the car and was pronounced dead at the scene, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Martine Taylor Jr., 56, of Toms River, has been charged with causing death while driving with a suspended license in connection with the crash that happened early Tuesday on Cedar Bridge Avenue, Billhimer said.

The crash was discovered when the driver of a commercial tractor trailer called Lakewood police about 1:35 a.m. to report having hit utility wires as he was driving east on Cedar Bridge Avenue near the Garden State Parkway overpass, Billhimer said.

Lakewood police officers investigating at the scene found a 2015 Nissan Altima upside down in a drainage ditch off the eastbound lane of Cedar Bridge Avenue, he said, and found Taylor trapped in the car.

They also found the woman unresponsive; efforts to save her life were not successful, Billhimer said.

Taylor was extricated and taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, he said.

While there, his blood was drawn under a court-approved warrant.

The investigation found Taylor was driving the Altima west on Cedar Bridge Avenue but it crossed the double yellow line into the eastbound lanes, then left the road and went airborne, clearing the guardrail and traveling an estimated 189 feet through the air and hitting a utility pole in the process, Billhimer said. The contact with the utility pole caused severe damage to the undercarriage of the car, he said.

The car briefly hit the ground before becoming airborne a second time, and then hit a tree before coming to rest on its roof in the drainage ditch, Billhimer said.

Authorities did not provide an estimate of how fast the car was traveling or any indication of why the car left the road.

Investigators learned Taylor’s license was suspended at the time of the crash and his blood was drawn at the hospital under a court-approved warrant, Billhimer said.

Taylor was served with the aforementioned charge via warrant at the hospital, along with multiple motor vehicle summonses. He is to be taken to the Ocean County Jail in Toms River once he is released from the hospital, Billhimer said, pending a detention hearing.

The downed utility pole forced the closure of the Garden State Parkway exit ramp at 89B for Lakewood while repairs are made. The closure remained in place as of 2:40 p.m. Tuesday.