YORK – A York woman who police say was driving drunk when she hit and killed a Massachusetts woman as she walked along a road in York shortly after midnight Tuesday had been charged with driving under the influence in 2013.

The victim, Emily A. Zarnoch of Quincy, Massachusetts, was hit by an SUV that police say was driven by Carolyn Lee, 21, who drove off after the fatal crash. Lee was charged late Tuesday with manslaughter and was held in the York County Jail on $25,000 bail.

Zarnoch was unconscious and being tended to by her boyfriend on the lawn of 366 Ridge Road when an ambulance and rescue workers arrived soon after receiving the emergency call at 12:32 a.m.

Zarnoch died of her injuries later Tuesday, after being taken to Portsmouth Regional Hospital in New Hampshire.

A police officer who had been given the description of the vehicle that struck Zarnoch came upon a blue 2000 GMC Yukon shortly afterward on Long Sands Road and stopped it, according to York police Sgt. Luke Ernenwein.

Lee was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of a serious personal injury accident. The York County District Attorney’s Office will seek additional charges against Lee, according to police.

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Lee had previously been charged in 2013 in York County with driving under the influence, but that charge was dismissed as part of a plea deal in which she admitted responsibility to a lesser charge, according to police. It was not immediately clear what that lesser charge was.

Lee also has a prior criminal record in Cumberland County on theft charges involving a Hannaford store in South Portland in November 2013 and for violating the bail conditions of the 2013 OUI charge. She pleaded no contest to the charges in Cumberland County in 2014, and the charges were ultimately dismissed on Jan. 5 after she completed the terms of a nine-month deferred disposition. The nine-month sentences required her to attend a shoplifters program, refrain from drugs and alcohol and stay out of trouble, according to records at the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland.

Zarnoch was struck while walking along the shoulder of Ridge Road just beyond a moderate curve. That section of the two-lane road has a speed limit of 25 mph and is separated by a double yellow line. It is a densely populated neighborhood with many side roads. It’s not known how fast Lee was driving.

Lee was taken to the York County Jail in Alfred and subsequently released on $5,000 cash bail.

At Lee’s home at 16 Dock Road on Tuesday afternoon, the driveway was filled with vehicles and a group of young men sat in chairs in the yard, as several dogs played around them. A woman came from the house and walked down the driveway shaking her head, with tears in her eyes, as a reporter approached the house. She declined to comment.

Police did not say why Zarnoch was in York and did not identify her boyfriend.

A man who answered the phone at a number listed for John Zarnoch, a relative of Emily Zarnoch, declined to comment.

An autopsy will be performed by the New Hampshire Medical Examiner’s Office, police said.

York police have asked anyone who witnessed the crash or with information to call 363-4444.


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