UPDATE: Driver Charged After Crashing Into Route 37 Business

A Barnegat man faces a driving while intoxicated charge after an early morning crash Wednesday into a Route 37 building that caused “extensive damage,” police said.

Edward Halko, 36, was traveling east on the state highway at about 2 a.m. when his 2005 Ford SUV left the road and crashed into a business in the Oak Ridge Shopping Center, said Chief of Police Michael Mastronardy.

The SUV first struck the traffic light stanchion at Lakehurst Road and traveled 300 feet through the Delta Gas parking lot, hitting a phone booth, and collided with Young’s Medical Equipment, Mastronardy said.

As a result of the crash the business suffered “extensive damage," Mastronardy said. Photos of the scene provided by police show that the SUV entered the building.

Halko also faces charges for failure to wear a seatbelt and failure to maintain lane, according to the chief. 

He was removed from his vehicle by Toms River Fire Companies No. 1 and 2, transported by Toms River First Aid to the West Dover Elementary School and flown by helicopter to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, Mastronardy said. His condition was not immediately known. 

Toms River Building Inspector Ken Anderson, the New Jersey Department of Transportation and JCP&L assisted at the scene. The crash remains under investigation by Sgt. Robert Rankin, Officer Dewey Unger and Traffic Safety Officer Brian Doyle, according to Mastronardy.