An Audubon woman has been sentenced to house arrest and probation for her roll in a May 2020 crash on Bethlehem Pike that left multiple people injured.
As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, 53-year-old Valerie Preston, of Audubon, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of DUI: Highest Rate Second Offense and causing a crash involving death or injury while not licensed. Charges of harassment, failure to stop and render aid, careless driving, disregarding traffic lanes, driving at safe speed, failure to keep right and driving without a license were withdrawn in exchange for her plea, according to court records.
Preston was initially facing a felony DUI: Highest Rate of Alcohol Third Offense charge, however court records show that charge was reduced to the misdemeanor DUI: Highest Rate Second Offense during her preliminary hearing. Additional charges of accident involving damage to an attended vehicle, driving on a suspended license and reckless driving were also withdrawn during Preston’s preliminary hearing.
Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Steven O’Neil sentenced Preston to two-to-five-years-probation, along with 90 days of house arrest and a $1,500 fine.
The charges stem from a May 16, 2020, crash on Bethlehem Pike in which Preston travelled across five lanes of traffic, struck a vehicle, and then attempted to flee the scene on foot.
According to the criminal complaint, Montgomery Township Police were dispatched to the intersection of Bethlehem Pike and Richardson Road at 7:24 p.m. on May 16, 2020, for a report of a vehicle crash with injuries. The initial dispatch indicated that one vehicle was on its side with a female trapped inside, but as police were enroute to the scene, dispatch informed them that the woman was able to free herself from the vehicle, the report states.
Upon arrival, police were informed that the woman who was temporarily trapped in her vehicle had fled the scene on foot through a nearby graveyard, the report states. Police then gave chase, and the woman eventually stopped running and fell to her knees, the report states.
The woman, who had bloody hands and feet, was detained at the scene and identified as then 51-year-old Valerie Preston, of Seminole, FL, police said. The report states that police could smell alcohol emanating from Preston, and she was noticeably unsteady on her feet with slurred speech and bloodshot, glassy eyes.
Preston told police that she had consumed three glasses of wine over a one-hour period, the report states. Investigators also said that Preston failed both a series of field sobriety tests and a preliminary blood-alcohol test, according to the complaint.
Preston was then taken into custody, police said.
Crash scene investigators determined that Preston was travelling northbound on Bethlehem Pike at a high rate of speed when her vehicle left the roadway and went onto the right-side shoulder of the road, the report states. Preston then overcorrected and lost control of her vehicle, crossing five lanes of travel before striking the southbound curb, the reports states. Her vehicle then continued to travel, knocking down a street sign and traffic signal before striking a vehicle and coming to a rest, according to the complaint.
The driver of the vehicle that was struck reportedly sustained a neck injury and was transported from the scene via ambulance to Lansdale Hospital, the report states. Police said a second person was injured after they attempted to help Preston from her vehicle, at which point Preston pushed them twice, causing them to cut their left arm on broken glass from the vehicle. That victim was treated at the scene, police said.
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