Woman arrested for allegedly trying to run down girl

LAKE COUNTY – Jamie Seely denied she nearly ran down a feuding neighbor’s daughter when she saw them in a local park.

But a witness who video-recorded the Oct. 19 incident told a different story, according to a Lake County Court affidavit.

Seely was arrested Oct. 24 and charged with two counts of felony assault with a weapon, criminal endangerment and disorderly conduct.

She was appointed an attorney and assigned a $25,000 bond. Seely’s arraignment, scheduled Nov. 6 before Judge Deborah Kim Christopher, was continued to Nov. 13, when she plead not guilty. Her omnibus hearing was set for Dec. 18 and jury trial was set for Feb. 23.

The incident began when a Hot Springs man, his daughter and a few friends were enjoying the afternoon at a nearby park.

Their party was interrupted when they saw Seely point her car at the group and accelerate, they said.

Lake County court records show that Seely drove toward the group and stopped just before hitting the minor.

The neighbor suspected Seely was intoxicated, court records said.

A short time later, the responding deputy went to the neighbor’s house, interviewed witnesses and learned the minor child was scared.

When the deputy spoke to Seely, however, Seely said she was trying to get away from the neighbor and his friends because they were throwing rocks and a pipe at her car.

The video showed the witnesses throwing objects at Seely’s car when she stopped near the child, court records said.

But the feuding neighbors’ story was even more complicated when a second neighbor called dispatch during the deputy’s initial investigation.

The second neighbor told dispatchers that she could hear Seely, “yelling threats to kill people and discharging a firearm,” court records said.

The second neighbor’s call prompted the response of additional officers.

Court records said that when those deputies arrived, “several individuals stated they had been shooting a shotgun into a pond by the building and denied that anyone had been yelling any threats,” court records said.

The officers discovered a shotgun in the back of a pickup nearby, records said.

When the second neighbor was interviewed, she told deputies that while she was working outside she heard Seely screaming that she was going to kill several people, including the second neighbor’s husband, court records said.

The second neighbor said she “heard a gunshot’ and heard a bullet ‘whizzing’ over her property.

 She said she did not want to cook dinner in her kitchen because (Seely) could see through a window.

”Lake County Undersheriff Dan Yonkin received a phone call about a week earlier from Seely, who said there would be “gunplay” if Seely kept making problems, court records said.

Sheriff’s officials said deputies had “previous reports from (Seely’s) neighbors about hearing (Seely) yelling threats, followed by gunfire directed toward the neighbor’s property,” court records said.