Driver Who Killed NJ Road Worker Had Drug Mix, Alcohol In His Blood, Prosecutor Says

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Lakehurst man was nearly twice the legal limit for alcohol and had drugs in his system in a July crash that killed a member of a road crew working at a construction site in Toms River, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday.

Douglas P. Smith, 51, has been charged with vehicular homicide in the July 31 crash that killed Allen Adams, 50, of Lumberton, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said. Smith was arrested Wednesday on a warrant issued Aug. 28 with the vehicular homicide charge, he said.

In addition, two Toms River women have been charged with hindering the apprehension of another, the prosecutor's office said, alleging they gave detectives false information about Smith's whereabouts as authorities searched for him to arrest him, Billhimer said.

Tammie M. Malek, 46, and Amy M. Thorn, 56, were arrested Wednesday and are being held in the Ocean County Jail pending detention hearings, the prosecutor's office said.

Adams was hit about 1 a.m. on July 31 as he worked in a construction zone on Lakewood Road with machinery equipped with flashing amber warning lights, the prosecutor's office said. Smith was driving north on Lakewood Road at the time he hit Adams, authorities said, and his vehicle was found just north of where Adams was hit, they said.

The responding Toms River police officers found Adams lying in the road with serious injuries and he was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River, where he was pronounced dead, the prosecutor's office said.

As officers spoke with Smith, he showed signs of impairment and he was charged with driving while intoxicated and reckless driving, the prosecutor's office said. He was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River and a sample of his blood was taken pursuant to a court-authorized warrant, authorities said.

Laboratory testing showed Smith had a blood alcohol concentration of .151 at the time his blood was drawn, nearly twice New Jersey's limit of 0.08 where a driver is legally intoxicated, authorities said.

The blood tests also showed cocaine, fentanyl and methadone in Smith's system, the prosecutor's office said.

Smith was charged with vehicular homicide on Aug. 28, and on Wednesday officers from the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office, and Toms River Police Department found him at a home in Toms River and arrested him without incident.

He is being held at the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing.