Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey and Chief William Volkert of the Old Bridge Police Department announced that a 38-year-old Neptune woman was charged today with causing a drunk-driving crash in which her rear-seat passenger was killed and she and two others were injured.
Nakoma Jones was charged with death by auto and assault by auto after police determined she was intoxicated when she crossed into on-coming traffic and struck another vehicle head on.
Her rear seat passenger, Gustavo Rodriguez, 30, of Neptune, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which occurred today at 3:38 a.m.
Jones, who also was injured in the crash, is being treated at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. Bail was set at $160,000.
Her front-seat passenger, a 36-year-old woman from Asbury Park, was treated at the hospital for injuries and was released today.
The driver of the car that was struck also remains hospitalized at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
The driver was identified as a 19-year-old woman from Cedar Grove.
An investigation by Officer Henry Penley of the Old Bridge Police Department and Detective Craig Marchak of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office showed that Jones was driving a 2009 Lincoln MKS east on Route 516 in Old Bridge when she crossed into on-coming traffic near Mannino Park Drive and crashed into a 2011 Sonata.
The injuries sustained by the victims and their conditions were not immediately available.
The investigation is active and is continuing.
Anyone with information is asked to call Officer Penley of the Old Bridge Police Department at (732) 721-5600, or Detective Marchak of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 745-3254.