Toms River Man Indicted In Fatal Drunken, High-Speed Crash, Prosecutor Says

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River man has been indicted in a May crash that killed a Matawan woman, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Friday.

Martine Taylor Jr., 56, was indicted Thursday in the May 13 crash that killed Christine Kroliczak, 52, of Matawan, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Kroliczak 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 has 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, authorities said.

The officers found Taylor trapped in the car and he was extricated and taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune for treatment, authorities said. Kroliczak was found unresponsive and trapped in the passenger seat, the prosecutor's office said, and while life-saving efforts were attempted, she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Blood was drawn from Taylor under a search warrant while he was at the hospital, and when he was released he was taken to the Ocean County Jail.

He initially was released under New Jersey Bail Reform rules but was arrested again in September after lab results showed his blood alcohol concentration was .182 when it was drawn. That is more than double the .08 level at which New Jersey drivers are considered intoxicated for legal purposes. Read more: Driver Was Drunk, Going 94 MPH As Airborne Car Traveled 189 Feet In Lakewood Crash, Prosecutor Says

Investigators also determined Taylor was 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, the prosecutor's office has 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.

He was indicted on charges of aggravated manslaughter, vehicular homicide, and causing death while driving with a suspended driver’s license. Taylor remains in the Ocean County Jail, where he has been since his arrest in September.