TOMS RIVER — A Lakehurst man was sentenced to nine years in state prison for a 2025 crash in Toms River that killed a man working in a construction zone, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Monday.

Douglas Smith, 52, was sentenced Oct. 23 by Superior Court Judge Kenneth T. Palmer. He had pleaded guilty Aug. 31 to vehicular homicide. Smith must serve 85% of the term before becoming eligible for parole. At his sentencing he also pleaded guilty to drunken driving, and the judge suspended his driver's license for 10 years, prosecutors said.

Toms River Township police were called to Lakewood Road and Raymond Avenue at about 1 a.m. on July 31, 2025, for a report of a pedestrian struck by a car. Officers found Allen Adams, 50, of Lumberton Township, lying in the road with serious injuries. He was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River, where he died.

According to prosecutors, Adams was working in a construction zone on Lakewood Road, near machinery fitted with flashing amber warning lights, when he was hit by a northbound car driven by Smith. Police found the car on Lakewood Road just north of the crash, and Smith showed signs of impairment, prosecutors said. He was initially charged with drunken driving and reckless driving.

A blood sample taken under a court-authorized warrant showed a blood alcohol concentration of .151, prosecutors said. New Jersey's legal limit is .08. Prosecutors said cocaine, fentanyl and methadone were also found in his system.

Smith was charged with vehicular homicide on Aug. 28, 2025, and was arrested Sept. 3, 2025, at a home in Toms River. He has been held in the Ocean County Jail since then, prosecutors said.

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