Driver Was Drunk, Going 94 MPH As Airborne Car Traveled 189 Feet In Lakewood Crash, Prosecutor Says

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River man has been charged with aggravated manslaughter and vehicular homicide in a May crash in Lakewood that killed a Monmouth County woman, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Thursday.

Martine Taylor Jr., 56, was arrested Thursday on the new chargesin the May 13 crash on Cedar Bridge Road that killed Christine Kroliczak, 52, of Matawan, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said. The new charges, filed Thursday, were because Taylor's blood alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit and speeding at more than 94 miles per hour at the time of the crash, authorities said.

Kroliczak, whose identity had not been released previously, was a passenger in Taylor's 2015 Nissan Altima that wound up on its roof in a drainage ditch along Cedar Bridge Road after going airborne for 189 feet, the prosecutor's office said.

Investigators said Taylor was driving the Altima west on Cedar Bridge Avenue but crossed the double yellow line into the eastbound lanes, 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. The contact with the utility pole caused severe damage to the undercarriage of the car, authorities 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, authorities said.

Kroliczak was found unresponsive and while life-saving efforts were attempted, she was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Taylor was extricated from the car and taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center for treatment. Blood was drawn from him under a search warrant while he was at the hospital, Billhimer said. Taylor was later taken to the Ocean County Jail after he was released from the hospital, then released from jail under New Jersey Bail Reform.

Lab results showed Taylor's blood alcohol concentration was .182 at the time his blood was drawn, more than double the .08 level at which New Jersey drivers are considered intoxicated for legal purposes, authorities said.

In addition, investigators determined Taylor was speeding, driving between 94 and 98 mph at the time of the crash, authorities said. The speed limit on Cedar Bridge Road is 50 mph.

There was no evidence that Taylor hit his brakes, Billhimer said.

Taylor's license was suspended at the time, and he initially was charged with causing death while driving with a suspended license and served with motor vehicle summonses, authorities 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 investigating it found Taylor's car, he said.