A Lakehurst man has been sentenced to nine years in New Jersey state prison for a fatal impaired-driving crash that killed a road construction worker in Toms River, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced.

Source: Ocean County Prosecutor's Office

Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said Douglas Smith, 52, was sentenced on October 23, 2026, by Superior Court Judge Kenneth T. Palmer after his guilty plea to vehicular homicide. Under New Jersey's No Early Release Act, Smith must serve at least 85 percent of the nine-year term — about seven years and eight months — before he can be considered for parole. He also pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated, and the judge suspended his driving privileges for 10 years.

Source: Englebrook Independent News

The crash happened at about 1:00 a.m. on July 31, 2025, on Lakewood Road near Raymond Avenue in Toms River. Prosecutors said Allen Adams, 50, of Lumberton Township, was working in a construction zone with machinery fitted with flashing amber warning lights when Smith's northbound vehicle struck him. Adams was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River, where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators said Smith showed signs of impairment at the scene. A court-authorized blood draw showed a blood alcohol concentration of .151 — New Jersey's legal limit is .08 — and laboratory results also found cocaine, fentanyl and methadone in his system, the prosecutor's office said. Smith was charged with vehicular homicide on August 28, 2025, arrested in Toms River on September 3, 2025, by a team including the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, and has been held in the Ocean County Jail since then.

Smith pleaded guilty before Judge Palmer on August 31, 2026. The case was investigated by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Major Crime Unit–Vehicular Homicide Squad and the Toms River Township Police Department, with help from the Ocean County Sheriff's Office and the Marshals task force.

For Punjabi truckers and road crews who work night construction zones on New Jersey highways, prosecutors say the sentence underlines the state's toughest impaired-driving rule: kill someone in a work zone while impaired, and 85 percent of the prison term must be served before parole is even considered.