A New Jersey man, Kevin Wells, 40, has been charged with vehicular homicide and two counts of assault by vessel while intoxicated after a late-night crash in Barnegat Bay killed a 26-year-old passenger and seriously injured two others in late July. The case is the third fatal boating collision involving alleged impairment along the Jersey Shore this summer, prompting renewed scrutiny of intoxicated boat operation as the season's death toll rises.

New Jersey State Police said troopers responded just before 11pm on 25 July after Wells's 32-foot boat struck a channel marker in Toms River Township; passenger Michael Bereheiko later died in hospital, while Steven Pochick and Nicholas Cherasaro were critically hurt and a fourth passenger suffered minor injuries. Wells is being held without bail. The other two summer cases involved Jennifer Pearson, 59, charged after her son died in a Memorial Day crash near Brant Beach, and Stephen Schneider, 64, charged over a July crash near Berkeley Township that killed his two young grandchildren, aged 9 and 7.