Rape Victim Runs Over Wrong Man

Woman Accused Of Mowing Down Man She Thought Raped Her

POSTED: Friday, August 20, 2010
UPDATED: 10:36 am EDT August 20, 2010

HENDRY COUNTY, Fla. -- A chain of horrible events in Florida ended with a rape victim in jail and an innocent man dead.

Amber Lee, 21, has been jailed on preliminary charges of murder after authorities said she ran over a man she thought raped her. But the Florida Highway Patrol said she hit the wrong guy.

She claims it was a horrible accident, but the victim's family isn't so sure.

"I'm not a murderer," Lee said.

Lee and her boyfriend were trying to sell their CD player last December when the alleged rape occurred.

"He made me get out of the car and pulled me behind a building and that's where he raped me," she said. "When he pulled me around the building, I thought I was gonna die. I didn't know he was gonna do that until he told me to get on my knees."

Lee said she pleaded with the man to let her go, thinking of her young daughter.

"We were just trying to get out of there," she said. "We tried to go around one man in the middle of the road. It just ended up happening, it happened so fast."

The Florida Highway Patrol said Lee mowed down Timothy Bualkmann, 32, with her car. Authorities said she thought Bualkmann had raped her.

"It's hard," Lee said. "It's not fun, it's not easy. I'm sorry for the man's family and everything, but what happened was an accident."

Baulkmann's cousin said he doesn't feel bad for Lee, and wants her to pay.

"He lost his life; we lost a family member," Tim White said. "The law can do something to her."

Now just months away from giving birth to another child, Lee worried the accident could mean a life sentence away from her two children.

"From the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry," she said. "I can only imagine what they're going through. But I don't want them to think that one day I don't think about him."

Lee's attorney said the man accused of raping Lee was arrested, but there wasn't enough evidence to charge him.

From: http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/24699812/detail.html