Sitting in the Mifflin County jail on $250,000 cash bail, a Mount Union woman is charged with causing a fatal vehicle crash on Route 22 that took the life of motorcyclist from Franklin County in spring 2020.
Betty Jean Bailey, 65, a resident of the Taylor Apartments, is scheduled for her next court appearance Aug. 9 in from of Mifflin County President Judge Aaron Gingerich.
Bailey was arraigned May 17, nearly two years after the crash which killed motorcyclist Craig Harris, 58, of Chambersburg.
Charges against Bailey include felony 1 homicide by vehicle while DUI and felony 3 homicide by vehicle. She is also charged with involuntary manslaughter, a misdemeanor of the first degree.
Her preliminary arraignment was held in front of Magisterial District Judge Jack Miller. Bailey has been in custody at the Mifflin County Correctional Facility since, unable to make bail.
State police at Lewistown say the crash occurred around 6 p.m. May 19, 2020, as Bailey attempted to make a left turn onto North Jefferson Street from the westbound lane of Route 22. Police say Bailey turned her 1997 Pontiac Grand Am into the path of Harley Davidson motorcycle operated by Craig Harris who was traveling east on Route 22.
According to the criminal complaint filed by Trooper Eric Kline, Bailey’s BAC was .084 percent following the crash. The trooper reported Bailey said she’d had two 12 oz. servings of beer, the second one about an hour ahead of the crash.
A state police collision analyst and reconstruction specialist with Troop G determined the crash was directly caused by Bailey when she turned without yielding to oncoming traffic.
According to Mr. Harris’s obituary, he was approaching his 14th years as the pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Chambersburg at the time of this death.
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