Funeral Arrangements for Ocean County Sheriff’s Officer Brian Stockhoff
February 16, 2022A GoFundMe Has Been Organized for James Cruz
February 16, 2022
Ashley Beams, 31, of Toms River
The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced Wednesday that a Toms River woman has been charged with aggravated manslaughter in a deadly incident after tests revealed her blood-alcohol level was four times the legal limit at the time of the crash.
Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced Wednesday that Ashley Beams, 31, was arrested and charged with aggravated manslaughter, vehicular homicide, and strict responsibility vehicular homicide in the Feb. 8 incident that killed
James Cruz, 62, of the Parlin portion of Old Bridge Township.
Cruz was getting something out of his trunk when Beams, who was driving east on Bay Avenue, slid into the shoulder just before Twin Oaks Drive and hit him, trapping him between his car and hers, according to Billhimer.
Cruz was trapped between the two vehicles as they drove 96 feet down the roadway before coming to a halt, according to authorities. At the scene, he was pronounced dead.
According to Billhimer, Beams was brought to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune for treatment of her injuries received in the crash.
Beams had a blood-alcohol percentage of.32 percent when her blood was drawn at the hospital, he added. When a driver's blood alcohol content is.08 percent or greater in New Jersey, the driver is assumed to be over the legal limit.
Billhimer said Beams is being held at the Ocean County Jail in Toms River for a detention hearing.
Cruz's friends started a GoFundMe page to help his family pay for his funeral.
The Vehicular Homicide Unit of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, the Victim Witness Advocacy Unit of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, the Toms River Township Police Department, and the Ocean County Sheriff's Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit investigated.
