Driver Ticketed In Crash With Toms River Police Officer Headed To Boat Emergency

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A New York man has been ticketed after he crashed into a Toms River police vehicle that was responding to an emergency on Sunday evening, police said Wednesday.

Brian Ayres, 55, of Pearl River, New York, was traveling in the left lane heading west on Route 37 about 9 p.m. Sunday when he hit the police vehicle at the Fischer Boulevard intersection, said Jillian Messina, media relations specialist for the Toms River Police Department.

The police officer was responding to the call on the barrier island of a boat that ran aground, throwing people off and resulting in injuries, and had his emergency lights and siren on when he was hit, Messina said.

Ayres told authorities he did not see the emergency lights of the Toms River Police patrol car before hitting it on the driver’s side, she said.

Witnesses at the scene told police all other traffic had stopped and yielded to the emergency vehicle, she said.

Ayres and the officer suffered minor injuries from the crash and refused medical treatment, Messina said. Both vehicles sustained extensive damage and were towed from the scene.

Ayres was issued a summons for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, she said.

The accident is under investigation by Toms River Police Sgt. Sean Smith. Assisting were the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office and Ocean County Sheriff’s Department.