Seven Injured In West Lacey Road Accident After One Driver Was Traveling In The Wrong Lane: Cops

Seven people were injured Saturday night in a three-crash on West Lacey Road about half a mile west of the Garden State Parkway, Sgt. Robert Flynn said.

Police have determined that Theodore Diebold, 55, Forked River, was traveling east on Lacey road in the westbound lane in a 1997 Toyoto T-100 pickup. He was also driving with a suspended license, Flynn said.

Diebold's truck then collided with a 2016 Chevrolet Silverado pickup driven by Douglas Adams, 43, Marlton. Adams was traveling west on Lacey Road at the time of the accident. The impact caused Adams' truck to overturn multiple times before it left the roadway and went into the woods.

Diebold's truck continued to travel east in the westbound lane, where it then collided head-on with a 2008 Saturn Vue operated by Lynael Matthews, 38, Audubon.

Diebold was the sole occupant of the Toyota. He was taken to Jersey Shore University
Medical Center with serious injuries. All four occupants of the Chevrolet Silverado, including Adams, were also taken to Jersey Shore, with minor injuries.

Lynael Matthews, who was driving the Saturn, and a passenger were also taken to Jersey Shore.

The investigation is continuing.

"It was determined...that in addition to driving on the wrong side of the road, Diebold was also driving with a suspended license," Flynn said.

The Lacey Township Police Crash Team, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Ocean County
Sheriff’s Department CSI, Lacey Township EMS, Bamber Lakes Fire Department, Forked River Fire
Department, Toms River EMS, Ocean Township EMS, Berkeley Township EMS, and MONOC paramedics
responded.

Flynn, along with Officers George Resetar, Adam Ewart, and Michael
Verwey are the investigating officers.