Headed for state prison

Norristown man faces time for high-speed chase that left a police officer injured

NORRISTOWN » A Norristown man is on his way to prison for leading police on a high-speed chase, during which he struck two police vehicles and injured an officer.

Robert E. Lee, 42, of the 500 block of West Main Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to five to 10 years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of aggravated assault in connection with the March 23, 2015, incident in the borough. The sentence was imposed by Judge Thomas C. Branca, who accepted a plea agreement in the matter.

The investigation began about 2:41 p.m. when Norristown police received a report of a disturbance at the Wine and Spirits store, 504 W. Marshall St.

The manager and a store employee told police that a man came into the store yelling that he intended to “close the place down” and started throwing and smashing bottles of liquor, according to the criminal complaint filed by Norristown Police Corporal Daniel DeOrzio. The suspect left the store by the time police arrived.

As officers searched for the suspect, they received another report regarding a man who attacked an ambulance at the Citgo gas station a few blocks east on West Marshall Street. An EMT with Plymouth Ambulance told police that as he was sitting in the passenger’s seat of the emergency vehicle a man pulled up in a silver minivan, smashed the driver’sside window of the ambulance with a hand tool and said, “stupid cracker” and drove away, according to the criminal complaint. The medic provided police with the suspect’s license plate number.

At 3:12 p.m. police were alerted to another incident near the intersection of Barbadoes and West Main streets. A witness told police that a man pulled up in a silver minivan, moved over to the passenger’s seat, reached out the window and struck and smashed the windshield of a parked pickup truck with a hammer before driving away, according to court documents.

Moments later the suspect resurfaced at the liquor store and smashed the glass door at the front entrance. He then reentered his vehicle and fled the scene, police alleged.

Police spotted the minivan, a Ford Windstar, stopped at a red light at the intersection of West Marshall and George streets. The driver, who subsequently was identified as Lee, was reportedly waving a hammer out of the window and shouting at other drivers and pedestrians.

Officers initiated a traffic stop, but Lee sped off as they approached, according to the criminal complaint.

Lee continued driving at high speed, first south, then west, allegedly disregarding multiple red lights and stop signs.

At 3:14 p.m. police were alerted to a hit-and-run at West Lafayette and Buttonwood streets in which Lee allegedly went speeding by a vehicle, stopped,