Howell, NJ man indicted for Vehicular Homicide in crash that killed a man at ASARCO in Whiting, NJ

A Howell Township man has been indicted by a Grand Jury in Ocean County on multiple charges for being drunk in a crash at the Heritage Minerals Mine in Whiting that killed another Howell resident.

Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer announced Thursday that Stephen McGuire, 44, was indicted on the charges of Vehicular Homicide and Strict Liability Vehicular Homicide as well as three counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child in the death of James Grover, 62, also of Howell, on December 12, 2020 in Manchester Township with others in the vehicle at that time.

It was a late night crash.

Manchester Police arrived on scene around 8:30 pm to ASARCO on Route 70 in Whiting for a motor vehicle accident with a submersion.

Once on scene, officers spoke to people who were driving UTV's on the property and they told police that another UTV entered the lake which caused the vehicle to submerge along with everyone on board.

Manchester Police and the OCPO Vehicular Homicide Unit later learned that McGuire was driving that UTV which had Grover and three minors on it as well.

Grover didn't resurface from the lake on his own.

Manchester Police and members of the Manchester, Ridgeway, and Whiting Volunteer Fire Companies then came together to conduct an underwater dive search and rescue operation.

They were able to find the overturned UTV submerged in 25-feet of water with Grover attached to it by his safety harness.

He was removed from the safety harness, and while life saving measures were performed by Manchester Township Emergency Medical Technicians and Robert Wood Johnson Paramedics, he ultimately succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

McGuire, thought was brought to Community Medical Center in Toms River, as the investigation continued.

He underwent blood work following a search warrant secured by the OCPO and the results of the test on January 5, 2021, found out McGuire had a BAC of .127 -- the legal limit in New Jersey is .08.

McGuire was then arrested without incident at his residence in Howell by OCPO-VHU Detectives and Manchester Township Police Officers.

He was brought to the Ocean County Jail, and later released pursuant to the New Jersey Bail Reform law.

Prosecutor Billhimer said that Ocean County Senior Assistant Prosecutor Jamie Schron and Assistant Prosecutor Alyssa Mandara are handling the case on behalf of the State.