TOMS RIVER, NJ — A July day spent hanging out with friends on Barnegat Bay, enjoying a boat that was soon to be his turned into a nightmare of blood all over the boat and one of his friends bleeding out for a North Jersey man charged in a fatal crash.
Kevin M. Wells, 40, of Warren, has been charged with vehicular homicide — death by vessel and two counts of assault by auto/vessel in the July 25 crash that killed Michael T. Bereheiko, 26, of Green Brook.
The crash also seriously injured Steven Pochick, 27, of Green Brook, and Nicholas Cherasaro, 27, of North Plainfield, authorities have said. Sarah Stuhl, 24, of Bayville, suffered minor injuries in the crash, authorities said.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed in the case, Wells had a blood alcohol concentration 1-1/2 times the legal limit when his blood was drawn four hours after the crash.
Wells had been drinking throughout the day and had at least four alcoholic drinks during a two-hour dinner at a Bayville restaurant not long before hitting Intracoastal Waterway marker 22 near the Route 37 bridge late in the evening, according to the affidavit.
The group was out on a 32-foot Boston Whaler that Wells was in the process of buying from a Toms River man, according to the affidavit. They had left the man's home on Silver Lagoon Drive earlier in the day; the affidavit does not indicate what time they headed out.
At 10:42 p.m. the boat's owner received a frantic call from someone saying the boat was "coming in fast and someone was bleeding out," according to a review of surveillance footage at the man's home, the affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, Stuhl told authorities the group had been drinking throughout the day, and shortly after 8 p.m. pulled up to B2 Bistro and Bar on Bayview Avenue in Bayville. Surveillance video at the restaurant showed the group walk to the outdoor bar at 8:22 p.m.
While they were there, the group had food and drinks, Stuhl told authorities. Wells had at least four alcoholic drinks, the affidavit said, confirmed both with surveillance video and a receipt in his name from the bar.
The group was seen leaving B2 Bistro at 10:15 p.m., according to the affidavit.
As they made their way north to Toms River from Bayville, the boat struck an object in the water near Intracoastal Waterway marker 22, in the area of the Route 37 bridge, the affidavit said. Wells was at the helm, and Stuhl was next to Wells. Bereheiko was sitting in the front of the boat, Pochick was to the right of the helm and Cherasaro was to the left, according to the affidavit.
When the Boston Whaler arrived at the Silver Lagoon Drive home moments later, "multiple individuals began to board the vessel to provide aid," according to the affidavit.
A Toms River police officer was first on the scene and provided aid, followed by Toms River Police EMS, fire and emergency personnel, the affidavit said.
Bereheiko was the most severely injured, but authorities did not specify what his injuries entailed. He was taken to Ocean University Medical Center in Brick, but was but pronounced dead at 11:48 p.m. on July 25.
Pochick and Cherasaro were flown to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, the affidavit said. Pochick suffered "internal decapitation and a skull fracture," according to the affidavit, which did not explain the decapitation further.
Cherasaro suffered three broken ribs and three broken vertebrae, according to the affidavit.
Both were initially listed in critical condition, but have since been released from the hospital, according to the affidavit.
Both New Jersey State Marine Police and the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office were called in to investigate.
Troopers interviewed Wells at the scene and saw his eyes were bloodshot and watery, and he failed field sobriety tests, so they arrested him on suspicion of operating the boat under the influence and took him to Community Medical Center in Toms River, according to the affidavit.
Detectives from the prosecutor's office saw five empty alcoholic beverage containers and "a large amount of blood covering the interior of the vessel," the affidavit said.
The detectives took photos and removed two iPhones, four personal belongings bags and five open-container alcoholic beverages that night, the affidavit said.
When they interviewed Stuhl, she told the detectives the group had been at B2 Bistro and Bar in Bayville and had food and alcohol there before heading back to Toms River.
Stuhl, who was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries, also told detectives the group, including Wells, had been drinking throughout the day.
That information was later confirmed by Cherasaro, the affidavit said.
A search warrant was obtained for Wells' blood and it was drawn shortly before 3 a.m., about four hours after the crash, according to the affidavit.
Test results showed his blood alcohol concentration was 0.121 percent at the time it was drawn, according to the affidavit.
On Aug. 5, detectives executed a search warrant on the boat and recovered two GPS units and two sweatshirts covered in blood.
In addition they recovered five empty alcoholic beverage containers — a Stateside, two Michelob Ultras, a Busch Light and a High Noon — in the boat's rear sink, along with an open bottle of Tito's Vodka and an unopened Tito's bottle in a rear helm compartment.
In a large Yeti cooler they found 16 unopened cans of Michelob Ultra, 20 unopened cans of Sun Cruiser, 10 Super Lyte alcoholic beverage cans, three cans of Sprite, and three cans of Celsius energy drink.
In the front part of the boat they found three unopened 8-packs of Sun Cruiser and three unopened 8-packs of Super Lyte, and in the head (the boat's bathroom) they found a 30-pack of Michelob Ultra unopened, according to the affidavit.
The charges were filed on Aug. 28, according to the affidavit.
Wells is the third person charged in connection with fatal boating crashes, all involving alcohol, on Barnegat Bay this summer.
Jennifer L. Pearson, 59, of Barnegat, was charged Aug. 18 with death by vessel, a second-degree charge, and operating a vessel under the influence, in the May 25 crash that killed her 28-year-old son, Gunnar.
And Stephen C. Schneider, 64, was charged in the July 19 boating crash on Barnegat Bay not far from his Bayville home that killed his grandchildren, Mya and Sigmund Golabek. Authorities say he was intoxicated at the time of the crash.
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