Kevin Wells, 40, was arrested Friday and charged with reckless vessel homicide after a deadly July 25 boat crash near Toms River that killed one passenger and injured three others.
The Toms River man allegedly slammed a 32-foot Boston Whaler into a channel marker while boating intoxicated, authorities said. The impact killed Michael T. Bereheiko, 26, a construction worker from Green Brook, and left two 27-year-old men seriously hurt. A 24-year-old woman also suffered scrapes in the wreck.
After the crash, Wells rushed the damaged boat to a nearby residence in Toms River, where first responders converged to transport victims to hospitals. Bereheiko was pronounced dead soon after arrival.
Family members memorialized the young man as a former star high school football player whose happiest moments came at the Jersey Shore. An obituary described him as someone who loved “spending time at the Jersey Shore, where he could relax, laugh, and enjoy the company of those closest to him.”
Wells now faces two counts of assault by vessel while intoxicated or refusing a blood alcohol test in addition to the homicide charge, according to court records. He could not be reached for comment, and it was unclear who his lawyer was.
The arrest places Wells in a disturbing pattern of fatal boating accidents that have rattled the Jersey Shore this summer. All three involved channel markers and alleged intoxication behind the wheel.
Jennifer Pearson, 59, was charged with the death of her son Gunnar Pearson, 28, after an allegedly intoxicated boating crash on Memorial Day. Stephen Schneider, 64, was also charged after his two grandchildren died in a boating crash on Barnegat Bay while he was allegedly driving drunk on July 19, police said. Like Wells, both Pearson and Schneider struck channel markers with the impact killing their loved ones.
Wells is expected to appear in Ocean County Court for a hearing, records show.