Prison, License Suspension Ordered In Fatal Toms River DUI Crash

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River woman whose blood alcohol content was four times the legal limit in a 2022 crash that killed a Middlesex County man has been sentenced to prison and a license suspension, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced Monday.

Ashley L. Beams, 32, was sentenced Friday by Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan to five years in prison as part of her guilty plea to vehicular homicide in the death of James Cruz, 62, of the Parlin section of Old Bridge Township, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Beams, who pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide on July 24, must serve 85 percent of the term before she is eligible for parole under the No Early Release Act.

Billhimer said Beams pleaded guilty on Friday to the motor vehicle charge of driving while under the influence of alcohol and Ryan suspended her driving privileges for one year as a result, Billhimer said.

Beams was driving east in a Honda Accord along Bay Avenue on Feb. 8, 2022, when she drifted onto the shoulder just past Twin Oaks Drive and hit Cruz at 10:26 p.m., authorities said. Cruz, who was retrieving a package from the trunk of his Kia Sorrento, was pinned between the two vehicles, and Beams kept driving, going another 96 feet before coming to a stop.

Cruz was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

Beams was injured and taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune for treatment, and her blood was drawn for the crash investigation, authorities said.

Analysis showed she had a blood alcohol concentration of .321 percent, according to the probable cause affidavit, four times the 0.08 percent limit where a person is considered legally intoxicated in New Jersey.

Investigators learned Beams had gone to TGIFriday's to pick up dinner and while waiting for her order had consumed a Long Island iced tea and three shots of vodka. She had left home at 9:45 p.m. and hit Cruz 41 minutes later, at 10:26 p.m., according to the affidavit. Read more: Woman Had 4 Drinks Before Fatal Toms River Crash: Affidavit

Beams was arrested Feb. 16, 2022, at her home by detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Vehicular Homicide Unit and taken to the Ocean County Jail, and subsequently released as a consequence of New Jersey Bail Reform. She was indicted in April 2023.