LANCASTER – A Lancaster woman will spend nine to 22 years in state prison after a judge found her guilty of a high-speed crash that killed her son and seriously injured two others. The judge told 39-year-old Jennifer Johnson that she chose to place herself, her son and others at risk when she got behind the wheel while heavily inebriated. Johnson was found guilty on Dec. 4 after a three-day bench trial. Johnson apologized for “taking away” her son from her family and expressing disbelief that she was still alive after the crash. Johnson was about 12 weeks pregnant when she drove more than two and a half times the posted speed limit on a two-way highway before crashing her vehicle head-on into another car near the intersection of Lititz Pike and Keller Avenue just before 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 23, 2021. Johnson’s son, who was in the front passenger’s seat of Johnson’s vehicle, died. Two occupants of the vehicle Johnson struck head-on both suffered serious injuries, but survived. Witnesses told police they saw Johnson driving erratically and speeding before fishtailing into the opposite lane of traffic.
JENNIFER JOHNSON