DUBOIS – A DuBois woman is facing homicide by vehicle charges for striking and killing a pedestrian while she was allegedly driving under the influence.
Jackie Lynn Beach, 37, has also been charged with aggravated assault, involuntary manslaughter, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, DUI, and three traffic summaries as a result of an incident June 24 in DuBois. She allegedly struck a pedestrian in the area of West DuBois Avenue and DuBois Street.
A report from DuBois City police said they arrived at 9:44 p.m. on the scene of a motor vehicle accident to find a 50-year-old man laying at the intersection of Railroad and West DuBois avenues. He was transported to Penn Highlands DuBois where he was pronounced dead.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, when police spoke with the driver, Beach, she explained she was on her lunch break and was returning to work from the Falls Creek Sheetz store.
She said she was traveling at approximately 30 miles per hour when she approached the intersection. She struck an object, which smashed her vehicle’s windshield. She said: “I never saw him” multiple times but could not provide any details about the victim’s direction of travel.
An officer noticed her constricted pupils and asked if she had consumed any alcohol. She said she hadn’t. Beach did state that she was on several medications, including lexapro, lamictal and adderal.
She said she had taken her daughter’s Vyvanse medication because her adderal prescription had expired. The officer asked her to perform several sobriety tests, which she failed. She admitted she had taken Subutex (Buprenorphine) late the night before and at 3 p.m. that day.
Beach was taken to Penn Highlands DuBois for a blood draw. Her blood was then sent for testing. The test results showed she had 31ng/ml of amphetamine and 2.3 mcg/ml of lamictal, which is used to treat seizures, in her system. Traces of Buprenorphine and Norbuprenorphine were also detected.
Beach’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 16 at 9:30 a.m. during centralized court in District Judge Patrick Ford’s office.