Man Gets 8 Years In Slashing Attack On Ocean County Woman

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Mercer County man has been sentenced to eight years in prison in a May 2021 attack on a Jackson woman where he slashed her face and threatened to kill her, then smashed into two other cars when he tried to run from police, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced.

Michael Mahan, 38, of Ewing Township, was sentenced Friday by Ocean County Superior Court Judge Michael T. Collins to eight years in prison for eluding, five years in prison for terroristic threats, and five years in prison for aggravated assault, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

The sentences are to run concurrently, said Collins, who also suspended Mahan's driver's license for seven months for driving while intoxicated.

Mahan pleaded guilty on Sept. 29 to those charges in the May 8, 2021, assault at a Maria Street home. Jackson police said Mahan followed the woman to her home and attacked her, holding a knife to her throat and threatening to kill her, then slashed her face as he hit her while he was holding the knife.

A neighbor intervened and called 911, and Mahan took off. Police saw his vehicle on Toms River Road and began to pursue it, and Mahan sped off. As he tried to turn onto West Veterans Highway, he hit another vehicle, but kept going on West Veterans Highway, still at high speed, police said. Mahan hit another vehicle, forcing it off the road, but damaging his enough that it came to a stop about 500 feet away, police said.

Mahan was then arrested, police said.

Mahan was taken to Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood so authorities to get a blood sample to determine whether he was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, police said. Laboratory results from the blood draw later confirmed that Mahan’s blood-alcohol level was .14, nearly twice the legal limit under New Jersey law.

Mahan has been in the Ocean County Jail since then.

The woman was treated at a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening, police said, and the occupants of the two vehicles Mahan hit were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Assistant Prosecutor Victoria Veni handled the case. Jackson Township Police Department, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit, and Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit investigated.

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