Man charged with DUI in crash that killed English couple

VIRGINIA BEACH

Anthony and Mary Jean Tonking had been married nearly 53 years when their lives together came to an abrupt end Tuesday afternoon.

As they were driving back from spending the day at Pungo's Munden Point Park, their vehicle was struck by a driver suspected of being intoxicated, police said. They were pinned inside.

Firefighters and paramedics pulled them out, but it was too late for Mary Jean Tonking, 72. Her husband, 74, died shortly afterward at a Beach hospital.

The other driver, 44-year-old Christopher D. Dockiewicz, was also injured and remained hospitalized Wednesday.

He's been charged with drunken driving and two counts of involuntary manslaughter, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He was denied bond, and sheriff's deputies were guarding him at the hospital until his release and transfer to the city jail.

The Tonkings, called Tony and Jean, were visiting their daughter, Julie Olszewski, and two grandchildren, and had planned to return home to England soon.

They would have celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary on Jan. 26, according to an e-mail from Olszewski.

"They were truly happy together," she wrote.

The couple often spent the winter here and loved to travel and be outdoors, which is why they decided to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather at the park on the day of their deaths, Olszew ski wrote.

They had left the park and were heading north on Princess Anne Road at about 2:30 p.m., when the crash occurred, police said.

Dockiewicz was driving the opposite direction when he lost control of his car while going around a sharp curve and drove into the opposing lane of traffic. He was speeding and passing other vehicles, according to a news release from the Police Department.

Tony Tonking was driving and was unable to stop in time, striking Dockiewicz's car on the passenger side, according to the news release.

Both of the Tonkings were wearing their seat belts, but "there was actually nothing they could do," said Officer Adam Bernstein, a police spokesman.

The crash remains under investigation.

The Tonkings' family has set up the Jean and Tony Tonking Memorial Fund through SunTrust Bank, account number 1000108076984.

"They touched the lives of everyone they met and were 'family' to all who knew them," Olszewski wrote in the e-mail. "They will be deeply missed and fondly remembered for their kindness, humility and love of life and family and their unique way of 'lighting up a room.' "

Pilot writer Patrick Wilson contributed to this report.

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com