Howell Woman's Family To Get $1.5M From Bar In Fatal DWI Crash

HOWELL, NJ — The family of a Howell Township woman who was killed in a drunk-driving crash in 2014 has reached a settlement with the bar that served her boyfriend, the driver, according to reports.

Tiffany Soto's family will receive $1.5 million from 8th Avenue Ventures, the parent company of Connolly Station, according to the New Jersey Law Journal.

Soto, 26, was a passenger in her Honda Civic driven by her boyfriend, Edwin Martinez, in the early hours of Easter morning in 2014 when he ran a red light at 8th Avenue and Route 35 and hit another car, causing the Civic to flip and go airborne into the parking lot at Belmar Marina.

Soto, who was not wearing her seatbelt, was ejected from the car and landed in the Shark River. An autopsy found she died of drowning and blunt force trauma to her head, according to the New Jersey Law Journal report.

NJ.com reported Martinez's blood alcohol content was .207 in a sample taken after the crash. Under New Jersey law, a driver is considered intoxicated with a blood-alcohol reading of 0.08.

Martinez, who turns 27 on Nov. 2, was sentenced in 2016 to 10 years in prison for causing Soto's death.

The crash happened shortly after 2 a.m. on April 20, 2014, at the intersection of 8th Avenue and Route 35 in Belmar. According to a Patch report at the time, Soto arrived at Connolly Station, located on 8th Avenue in Belmar, in her Honda Civic to pick up Martinez.

Martinez got into a fight with two other patrons of Connolly Square after the bar closed, the Patch report said, and smashed the windshield of another car. Then, instead of getting into the passenger side and allowing Soto to drive, Martinez got in the driver's seat and sped away toward Route 35, authorities said at the time.

The driver of the other car and her passenger were not hurt, authorities said.

According to the New Jersey Law Journal, the lawsuit alleged Connolly Station bartenders continued to serve Martinez even though he was visibly intoxicated, citing as evidence eyewitness accounts of Martinez’s behavior, security video from the bar, and his blood-alcohol level. Connolly Station has since closed.

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