The blood alcohol content of Lebanon County’s chief detective was 0.219 percent – well above the legal limit – at the time of his arrest, according to court records.
Chief Detective Jonathan C. Hess was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after he was stopped earlier this month in Manheim Borough, Lancaster County.
Public court documents and the Manheim Borough Police Department have shed more light on the Saturday, Oct. 5, DUI arrest of Hess, who, according to Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf, has been chief county detective since 2021.
Graf announced Hess’s arrest last Friday in a brief statement, also noting that she is not related to the chief detective.
Read More: Following DUI arrest in Lancaster County, DA throws support behind chief detective
According to court records, Hess is charged with two misdemeanors for first offense DUI, including one for having a .16+ BAC.
The criminal complaint and affidavit of probable cause filed against Hess in Lancaster County, which at this stage are unproven allegations, say that Hess was pulled over by police while driving south on Route 72 at North Laurel Street and Memorial Drive in Manheim Borough.
The documents do not mention the time of the stop, but Manheim Borough police Sgt. James Starr told LebTown that Hess, shown on the documents as a Manheim resident, was pulled over at “about 7:11 p.m.”
The affidavit of probable cause, which is arresting officer Cole Horne’s narrative account of the incident, states that “officers were dispatched to a call of a reckless driver coming south down RT 72,” and that the vehicle, a black Jeep, “had swerved into the oncoming traffic lane.”
Horne also alleged that Hess was given field sobriety tests and “showed multiple signs of impairment during the exercises.”
Hess was transported to the Lititz police station where, according to the affidavit, he “agreed to submit to a chemical test of breath.” Horne wrote in the affidavit that, “When I asked the defendant how much he had to drink, he told me a few beers.”
Manheim Borough police have not alleged that Hess was involved in any sort of collision. The affidavit does state, however, that “while officers were in route” they were “also updated that the driver had potentially ‘hit a divider previously.’”
Hess Graf, Detective Hess’s boss, did not respond as of publication time to email and text message requests for comment on whether she had imposed any disciplinary action against him.
In her statement last week, Graf announced her support for her chief detective, stating: “Our office, and I stand with him and beside him.”
The Pennsylvania Legislature has set 0.08 percent BAC as the legal limit for a DUI conviction, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s website.
Preliminary arraignment and a preliminary hearing have been scheduled before Lancaster County President Judge David L. Ashworth on Wednesday, Nov. 27.
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