HARRISBURG, Pa. – Jarae Lee pleaded guilty in Dauphin County Court today to Aggravated Assault while Driving Under the Influence, two counts of Driving Under the Influence, three counts of Aggravated Assault, Aggravated Harassment by a Prisoner, Fleeing or Attempting to Elude Officer, and two counts of Resisting Arrest in exchange for an aggregate sentence of 2-4 years in state prison, where she will be eligible to participate in the Department of Correction’s boot camp program, followed by a five year consecutive term of probation.
These charges stem from three dockets that came from two separate incidents.
November 27, 2015 – Harrisburg Police were dispatched to a vehicle that had crashed into a tree. Upon arriving, officers found two women that were trapped in the vehicle and had to be mechanically extricated from the vehicle. The driver was subsequently identified as Jarae Lee. Both women were transported to the hospital with serious injuries. Subsequent testing of Lee’s blood determined that her blood alcohol concentration at the time of the accident was .156- she was charged with Aggravated Assault while DUI and DUI as a result of this incident.
December 13, 2015 – Harrisburg Police were dispatched to Derry Street for a report of a pedestrian struck. Upon arrival, officers did not locate any pedestrian struck but moments after arriving, they did observe a vehicle strike a male pedestrian. They attempted to stop the vehicle that was involved and the driver did not stop and attempted to flee the officers. The vehicle ended up stopping after the driver ran into a sign and was not able to drive away.
Officers attempted to make contact with the driver, subsequently identified as Jarae Lee, she would not cooperate and had to be removed from the vehicle and actively resisted officers attempts to take her into custody. Once taken into custody, officer noticed the odor of alcoholic beverage coming from her. She was taken to the hospital to be medically cleared.
While at the hospital, she continued to be combative with officers, kicking one in the chest and spitting on another. The male pedestrian that was struck by Lee’s vehicle refused medical attention, was uncooperative with officers and walked away from the scene.
Harrisburg Police Department’s Traffic Safety Unit, completed a follow up investigation into this incident. They were able to locate two witnesses to the incident who observed Lee’s vehicle try to strike the male pedestrian several times, actually turning around to attempt to strike him after being unsuccessful.
In addition to the responding officers dash cam video that showed Lee’s vehicle striking the male pedestrian, they were able to locate additional video that showed Lee attempting to strike the male pedestrian with her vehicle on more than one occasion. As a result of this incident, Lee was charged with three counts of Aggravated Assault, Aggravated Harassment by Prisoner, Fleeing or Attempting to Elude Officers, Resisting Arrest and DUI.
