Spat Triggered Crash, Power Outage, Say Toms River Police

An argument over a pack of smokes was the reason a car snapped a utility pole in half in Toms River, knocked out power in the area, and landed the driver in jail and his rider in a hospital, say township police.

Kenneth L. Price, 27, of Egg Harbor Township, was apprehended last Friday near the intersection of Cedar Grove Road and Bay Avenue, not far from where police say he had swerved into the pole, ran off, and left a 21-year-old woman in the passenger seat with a bleeding head wound.

According to investigators, the Williamstown woman refused to buy cigarettes for Price, who responded by swerving the 2009 Pontiac side to side on Cedar Grove Road, losing control and ramming the pole.

Price was charged with reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident, as well as a criminal charge of driving while suspended and causing serious bodily injury. He was arrested on the strength of a warrant claiming failure to pay $11,500 in child support, along with a separate warrant issued in Egg Harbor Township, police said.

The woman was treated at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune. The road was blocked for four hours during pole repairs.