Driver In Fatal Route 37 Crash In Toms River Was Urged To Stop, Passenger Claims

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Moments before a March crash on Route 37 that killed a young Toms River couple, the passengers in a speeding BMW were shouting at the driver to slow down, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The affidavit, filed in support of adult charges filed by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office against Carlos D. Martinez of Toms River in the fatal March 7 crash, also details two weeks of the investigation into the crash that raise questions about the events leading up to it.

The crash remains under investigation, the prosecutor's office has said.

Martinez, who turned 18 on June 28, was charged June 25 with 21 adult charges in the crash that killed Evan Fiore, 23, and Kiley Armstrong, 21, and severely injured Kiley’s twin sister, Krista Armstrong, and Ryan Chapman, 19, the complaint shows. He has agreed to have the case tried in adult court, his attorney, Carlos Diaz-Cobo said. He is currently being held in the Ocean County Juvenile Detention Facility and is scheduled for a detention hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday in Ocean County Superior Court.

Also injured in the crash were two passengers in the BMW; both were treated at hospitals and released, authorities said at the time. So far, neither has been charged in the incident, although at least one admitted to investigators that he had been driving the car and investigators wrote in the probable cause affidavit that they believe he was driving at the time the incident began.

“My client is presumed innocent under the law and he maintains his innocence,” Diaz-Cobo said in a phone interview with Patch on Monday afternoon.

"As the evidence comes in, it's clear that the older boys in the BMW provided false statements to law enforcement about who was driving the vehicle at various points of the incident,'' Diaz-Cobo said. “That calls into serious question their credibility about who was driving the car at the time of this terrible incident.”

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is handling the investigation because a high-ranking member of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office is related to the Armstrong sisters, Diaz-Cobo said.

The affidavit lays out the 16-minute timeline of the incident, which started at 10:42 p.m. when a Toms River patrol officer conducting radar surveillance clocked the white BMW 335 at 92 mph as it headed east over the Thomas A. Mathis Bridge toward Seaside Heights and ended with the crash at 10:58 p.m.

The officer who caught the speed on radar started to follow the BMW, which then turned off its lights and accelerated, reaching more than 100 mph as the patrol officer tried to pull the car over. After 10 seconds, the patrol officer turned off his emergency lights and notified Lavallette and other departments as the BMW kept going north on Route 35. Officers in Lavallette tried to stop the car as well but the BMW kept going.

As the Toms River patrol officer headed south on Route 35 back to Toms River, the BMW sped by him at more than 100 mph and turned and headed west on Route 37. The officer did not activate his lights but followed the BMW, which had several near-miss crashes, the affidavit said, before slamming into the Toyota Camry at 10:58 p.m.

Martinez was arrested at the scene, the affidavit says.

One of the passengers initially told Toms River police that the three were staying at a motel in Seaside Heights and they had gone out to get food. As the Toms River officer started to follow them, the passenger said Martinez sped off. That passenger said they told Martinez to slow down.

The second passenger told police Martinez also had refused to stop for a Seaside Heights police officer. The three were part of a group staying at the Seaside Heights motel, the second passenger said.

A female member of that group met with police but did not give a formal statement, according to the affidavit. Investigators said one of the passengers was on the phone with the group at the motel at the time of the crash and she said the passengers were yelling at Martinez to slow down just before the crash.

Surveillance video from a site on Fischer Boulevard — the name of the place was redacted in the affidavit — showed one of the passengers driving the BMW to the site, and that passenger was driving the BMW when it left the site and when the Toms River patrol officer saw it speeding by, the affidavit said. The officer was able to get a partial license plate number, but the affidavit notes the rear license plate was not in place at the time of the crash and was found in the car’s back seat.

The affidavit says there is a four-minute gap between the times the Toms River patrol officer stopped his initial pursuit and when the BMW sped past him, and location services show the BMW had stopped near Sunset Lane in Mantoloking. Authorities believe the trio changed drivers and removed the rear license plate at that time.

In a formal interview on March 13, one of the passengers told authorities he had driven to the store but Martinez — who did not have a driver’s license — wanted to drive back, according to the affidavit. That passenger waived his Miranda rights, the affidavit said.

"(Redacted) indicated there was a police officer on the bridge. (Redacted) indicated that he was scared, (Redacted) was scared, and they wanted Defendant to stop,” the affidavit said.

That passenger told investigators the car's headlights were not working properly and its speedometer was not working correctly. He also told authorities that the car had been modified to allow it to go faster than the manufacturer had intended, according to the affidavit.

That passenger also told investigators during the formal statement that Martinez had asked the passengers to record him while he was driving and said the video was taken in Lavallette and shared in a group chat while they were on the road.

The passenger also told investigators they had “a good 6 or 7 seconds to stop” for the light at Route 166, and that he and the other passenger had told Martinez to stop.

However, the investigators also note the passenger "ultimately ended up admitting that he did drive the white 2014 BMW 335 away from (redacted)" but claimed they had stopped for gas and that the group switched drivers on a side street before the initial eluding incident with the Toms River police officer, the affidavit said.

The investigators go on to say video surveillance shows the passenger driving the BMW about 2 minutes before the initial eluding and “It is believed that at the time of the initial eluding incident (redacted) was operating the white 2014 BMW 335."

Investigators also reviewed messages and records retrieved under search warrants for three phones, the affidavit said. Review of group messages on an unspecified app showed video of the BMW without its rear license plate and “with the speedometer pinned at 160 mph,” the affidavit said.
A video sent in a smaller group chat shows "what appears to be consistent with (redacted) driving and drinking an alcoholic beverage as well as a front-seat passenger, consistent with Defendant, holding a package of alcohol bottles in the front seat,” the affidavit said.

Martinez had blood drawn under a court-issued search warrant the night of the crash and his blood alcohol content registered 0.088 under lab results reported in the affidavit.

The alcohol appears to have been paid for by someone who was 21 years old, according to the affidavit. That person’s name was redacted as well.

"Additionally, this group message has a video from the perspective of a rear seat passenger, believed to be (redacted), recording the eluding incident between the Toms River Police Department and the driver, believed to be (redacted). In the video, someone can be heard saying 'floor it, this shit straight n---, go. F--- the cops n--- he turned it off n----.' Visible in the video is the emergency warning lights believed to be of the Toms River Police Department behind the vehicle as it is heard accelerating away."

The video referenced appears to be one that made the rounds on social media just days after the fatal crash.

The affidavit does not include any information gathered in the investigation since March 21, and does not indicate whether the second passenger was formally interviewed by authorities.

Previous reporting:

• 2 Die In Route 37 Crash In Toms River As Unlicensed Teen Drove 118 MPH: Prosecutor
• Support Pours In For Families Of Victims In Fatal Route 37 Crash In Toms River
• 'Always Together': Route 37 Crash Victims Were Planning Futures, Families Say
• Funeral Set For 'Inseparable' Couple Killed In Route 37 Crash In Toms River
• Community Envelopes Families Of Couple Killed In Route 37 Crash
• Teen Driver To Be Tried As Adult In Route 37 Crash That Killed Couple: Report