Trucker Receives 4-Year Term for Freeway Rampage

Charley Tom Lee Jr. was a man who always kept a tight lid on his emotions, his family members told the judge. In all of 25 years, he never raised his voice in anger. Not even once, they said.

That is, until May 18, when 21 Los Angeles motorists discovered just how violent the truck driver from Texas could be when he finally blew his top.

For that outburst, a contrite Lee was sentenced to four years in state prison Friday by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Judith Chirlin despite impassioned pleas for probation by Lee’s wife, mother, grandmother and defense lawyer.

On that May afternoon, Lee began rear-ending cars with his 18-wheel semi at speeds up to 80 m.p.h., starting on the San Bernardino Freeway in Temple City, and continuing on until California Highway Patrol officers finally pulled him over at gunpoint on the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles, leaving a 35-mile trail of leaking fuel, broken glass and twisted scraps of metal.

His family said he had been under tremendous pressure on the day of the incident. He was distraught over his mother’s chronic illness. He was beside himself over his father’s attempted suicide. He was upset because he could not provide a better life for his bride and infant daughter.

Truck Broke Down

In addition, on the day of the rampage, Lee’s truck had broken down, he had lost the keys to the tractor-trailer, and he had had an unpleasant encounter with a waitress somewhere along the way, they said.

Lee did not speak in court Friday. But in a letter to Chirlin, he apologized to his victims and said he still has no explanation for his “erratic behavior” that afternoon.

Lee in November pleaded guilty to five counts of assault with a deadly weapon in exchange for the dismissal of 11 other felony counts, including possession of a loaded handgun and a small amount of amphetamines.

He faced up to eight years in prison, although a county probation report recommended supervised probation.

According to Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Veals, Lee could be released in about a year, considering the time Lee has already served in County Jail.

In sentencing Lee, Chirlin said she could not ignore the nature of his crime. She said she has received numerous calls “from a variety of people” with strongly held opinions that were “split down the middle.”

‘Living Out Fantasies’

Some told the judge that Lee was “living out their fantasies” while others said what Lee had done was “every driver’s nightmare.”

Lee’s family members testified--often tearfully--that they had “never” seen him angry. Always, said his mother, Billie Lee, he would “walk away” from unpleasant situations.

For instance, when she told him that his father had attempted suicide, she said, Lee just ran and ran until he finally dropped in exhaustion. “He blamed himself,” she said.

After the freeway rampage, Lee told her “it was like a bad dream,” Billie Lee said.

“I never saw him angry,” added Lee’s grandmother, Dorothy Lee. She said he always had a sweet disposition--from infancy, when she used to keep him in a potato bin in her grocery store in Missouri. She called him “Tater.”

Tammy Lee, his wife, said she had accompanied her husband on many cross-country trips and never once saw him “get violent” on the road. He was “a very courteous” driver, she said.

Concerns Over Money

On the road, they almost always slept in the truck to save money, she said, adding that he had become increasingly upset at not being able to provide a better life for his family.

“He didn’t think he was doing enough for me and Chastity (their now 19-month-old daughter),” she said. “It really upset him.”

Laura Green, the Los Angeles deputy public defender who represented Lee, asked Chirlin to grant Lee probation, noting that her client has relatives in California, in Nevada and in Missouri who are willing to look after him.

But Chirlin, noting that this was “an extremely difficult case,” said she could not overlook his crimes. And Veals said it was “sheer happenstance” that no one had been seriously injured in the rampage.