Toms River: On Sunday October 4, 2020 at approximately 6:34 pm, multiple police units responded to a traffic collision at Ridgeway Rd and Whitesville Rd. Carmelo Rodriguez, 66 of Manchester, was operating a 2003 Toyota Sequoia on Ridgeway Road (Route 571) in an eastbound direction, entering Toms River from Manchester Township. Mr. Rodriguez was in the left turn lane which allows access to northbound Whitesville Road. Emily Westervelt-Mullig, age 17, of Manchester, was operating a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder west on Route 571/527 Whitesville Road and was traveling in the left lane. Both vehicles had a solid green traffic signal. In the process of executing a left turn, Mr. Rodriguez turned into the path of the Nissan, causing a collision. The impact caused the Nissan to move right, impact a curb and subsequently overturn. This vehicle came to rest overturned within the right lane of Ridgeway Road.
Mr. Rodriguez was transported to Monmouth Medical South (KMC) in Lakewood NJ for minor injuries by Pleasant Plains First Aid. He was subsequently charged DUI 39:4-50 and other motor vehicle violations. Ms. Westervelt-Mullig and all passengers were transported to Community Medical Center in Toms River NJ for their injuries by Toms River and Pleasant Plains EMS. The collision was investigated by Ptl. Mark Nater of the TRPD Traffic Safety Unit.
Right around time i there
Glad everyone is ok.
Imagine being a 17 y/o girl having to live through this because some loser can’t drink responsibly! ????
Ocean County Scanner News my thoughts exactly! Poor kid.
Ocean County Scanner News see my comment below!
Allison Bacon
God Bless! ❤️
Ocean County Scanner News Just thinking the same thing. That 66 year old man should have been more responsible. My heart goes out to the young girl just 17.
Ocean County Scanner News any word on how the girl and her passengers are doing?
Ocean County Scanner News Thank Heaven she did live through it, because so many dont
Ocean County Scanner News it sucks and is scary I have my son who is beginning to drive scare the hell out of me !!! It is sad people haven’t learned to drink and not drive! ????????????
Ocean County Scanner News Yup same thing happened to me at 17 when a drunk driver blew through a red like and t-boned me on the drivers side. I was lucky to be alive with the cars people were driving back then. Only lost part of my hearing and 20 stitches in my head. Hope everyone is ok from this accident ! Its a scary thing !
Ocean County Scanner News these people need to learn how to handle their driving beers….
This is terrible. But I’m willing to bet that this young lady won’t ever drink and drive being involved in such a horrible scary accident so young!!!! Prayers to everyone! Hope this man learns!
Desiree Rochelle i hope he goes to jail.???? They could have been planned a funeral for a 17 year old girl today had he hit her harder ????
Desiree Rochelle i was in an accident with my father when i was around 10 & he was drinking & driving as he did often ???? but we were coming down rt 37 going towards rt 9 & he slammed into the pole infront of mcdonalds i had to be cut out of the truck & all i remember before i blacked out was seeing my dads head almost threw the windshield & a pole in between us….im 32 & can say because of that accident i have never drank & gotten behind a wheel that accident traumatized me in more ways then one !!
Holli-Linn Pierce
Wow that’s quite a story. So glad you’re alive to tell it. ????
Holli-Linn Pierce so sad….sorry
btw I’m the mother of a 17 & 18 year old so this really hits home with me ????
Patricia Amy I’m not a mom yet but I had 2 friends on their motorcycle die from a drunk driver. Technically they hit him but he had already hit the side wall and was sitting sideways across both lanes of the road and it was night time so by the time they saw him it was too late. And of course nothing physical happened to him and he had already had a revoked license on top of it. But he did go to jail for it because of that.
Holli-Linn Pierce omg!!!!! Yes I would say it would! I can’t say I haven’t had anything to drink and not driven because I have but I’ve never been drunk to the point where even if I didn’t cause an accident but if I was pulled over I would be arrested because that’s just stupid I would never do that! Life is to short as it is and far to precious! Glad you are ok!
Idiot drunk driver’s lucky he didn’t kill noone.
Andrea Magliocco-Reeves probably an Illegal…I wouldn’t be surprised….what a shame to get behind a wheel intoxicated like that….that poor child she will be Scarred for life…????
Can’t believe people still drink and drive..
I feel sorry for the girl, such a scary thing to happen to anyone, let alone a young driver
Lisa Mendez Gogats if anything it’ll keep her from making the same mistake… glad they were all ok though. Could’ve been a real Tragedy
I narrowly avoided an out-of-control schoolbusey the other day…
All girls were ok to put this out there as news maybe we should start questioning the police over in this area.
I moved in this area a year ago and the speeding on Whitesville Rd is hurandis. Saturday mid morning coming home from the store this jackass was passing vehicles on the should called 911 but police could not catch up to him.
Really the police can sit on either side of my driveway and nobody would ever see them. This has to end we are not at the race track. Specifically this starts at 6 am and ends somewhere around 11 its insane and a very bad intersection need more paroling this area.
glad the girls were all ok, but the speeding does have to stop
Jennifer Rettino sad
Kathleen Bridget
You would think someone that old would know better then to drink and drive
Angela Dinice Peterson “I am old enough I know my reflexes I drink and drive for yrs no problem” is the mentality of those fools that drink and drive
Angela Dinice Peterson i was hit by a woman that blew a .18 and was 72 and she fled the scene but broke down a mile away
Sabrina Robles
I had a 72 yr old drunk lady crash into me going 50 and left me with nerve damage 5 herniated discs and having to have a microDiscectomy to shave a damaged disc so yeah a big fuck you to drunk drivers you should go to prison
Denise Weeden was this the one???
Cassandra Colello no it was later !
Denise Weeden oh ok
Kudos to the young lady and her friends for wearing seatbelts! Speedy recovery!
Pamela Miller
Za’Kiyah Miller yes that’s the one I drove by
I’m glad everyone is ok but aren’t you only allowed to have one passenger in the car when you are 17?
Jeff Janowski oh yeah I forgot about that rule. Huh
Jeff Janowski you can have all of your family and one person that is not family.
Theresa Meigh Yeah but it sounds like they were friends and not family.
Im sorry I just think that’s what we aren’t worried about right now! Thanks for the input though
Jeff Janowski Im sorry I just think that’s what we aren’t worried about right now! Thanks for the input though
Any up dates on this 17 year old young lady and her passengers I pray she won’t fear driving lots of prayers to her and her passengers and all their families The drunk driver when you woke up this morning I pray you suffered with the haunting accident and knowing you injured someone’s children you deserve nothing but Jail time and NEVER EVER BE ABLE TO DRIVE AGAIN ASSHOLE
Glad everyone is ok. I have NO tolerance for drunk drivers. They should go to jail and stay there for awhile!!!
Matt Avignone
thank you everyone ❤️
So glad you’re OK ❤️
The entire area is a speedway and it’s not going to stop anytime soon
Vera Auriemma no one was speeding just to make that clear !
You would think