WEST CHESTER — Common Pleas Judge Alita Rovito did not mince words.
She had just watched the video of a violent arrest of a Delaware County man who had fled from a state trooper after having been pulled over for a traffic infraction near Longwood Gardens, a chase on a rainy, windswept night that proceeded north along Route 1 to Concordville, where his sedan was eventually disabled by police spike strips.
As he was tackled by troopers when trying to run from the scene, the audio from a Mobile Video Recorder (MVR) in the pursuing patrol car picked up evidence of state Trooper Ryan Waters repeatedly punching the suspect, Matthew Dilodovico, in the head and face as he lay prone on the ground.
“I am going to break your face!” the trooper could be heard shouting at Dilodovico, as other troopers surrounded the pair alongside the southbound lanes of Route 1. “Stop resisting!”
“I’m not resisting,” Dilodovico pleaded. “Are you okay?”
“Am I okay?” Waters shouted. “You are going to jail.”
Video of the aftermath of the arrest was also played for Rovito in her courtroom Tuesday during Dilodovico’s sentencing on felony fleeing charges. Seated in the back of a trooper’s patrol car, his bloody face and ear could readily be seen. He was soon taken to a hospital, where he was treated for his injuries.
Rovito said she was appalled.
“What I heard and saw suggests that the state police are playing by their own laws,” she said. “I have never heard anything like that. None of that was appropriate. ‘I am going to break your face.’ ” Addressing Dilodovico, she said, “I have no words for what you were subjected to at the hands of the state police. No one should be treated that way.”
It is unusual to hear accusations of police misconduct aired during court proceedings in the county, and even more so for judges to comment on those allegations in the manner Rovito did.
Nevertheless, the evidence of the “brutality” that defense attorney Brian McCarthy of Exton said his client was subjected to by Waters during his apprehension did not result, as hoped, in a lesser sentence for Dilodovico, 36, of Media, a repeat DUI offender who has been in and out of state prison for his previous drunk driving arrests.
“You could have killed yourself or someone else,” the judge told Dilodovico, dressed in orange prison clothes from Chester County Prison, where he has been held on bail since his arrest on March 30, 2024. “This is absolutely dangerous. It is absolutely horrific.
“You are where you are for one reason and one reason only,” the judge told Dilodovico. “Your behavior.”
Rovito sentenced Dilodovico to a term of 17 1/2 to 35 months in state prison, followed by two years of probation. Although he received credit for the 17 months he has already served behind bars awaiting trial, he also faces further time in state prison for violating his parole on earlier charges. He pleaded guilty to fleeing charges and driving on a DUI-suspended license in May.
That punishment was in line with what the prosecutor in the case, Assistant District Attorney Peter Johnsen, had asked Rovito to impose because of the severity of the danger that Dilodovico posed to other drivers on the road as he fled, as well as his long history of driving while impaired.
“He poses an extreme risk to the public,” Johnsen said in his request for a state prison term. Not only did the chase with Waters run for more than eight miles, the speeds that Dilodovico drove at exceeded 100 mph on several occasions.
Johnsen noted that at first Dilodovico had pulled over on an exit from Route 1 near Longwood Gardens when Waters activated his lights and sirens. But “In the pivotal moment, he chose to flee. He wanted to escape the consequence f his actions” — driving with a suspended license. “That was more important than anyone’s safety. He could have killed somebody.”
But McCarthy urged Rovito to impose a limited amount of prison time for Dilodovico, who he noted had taken responsibility for the chase by pleading guilty. He contended that the way he was treated by Waters was cause enough for a lesser sentence than what Johnsen requested.
“When you are the victim of injustice when you have committed an injustice yourself, that does not excuse the first injustice itself,” the veteran defense attorney argued. He noted that charges of resisting arrest and driving under the influence had been withdrawn by the prosecution after they were filed by Waters.
In a pre-trial motion McCarthy filed asking that all charges against Dilodovico expect the fleeing count be mismissed, McCarthy noted that Waters had acknowledged that he became physical with the driver after he was stopped. He said in a report thathe had used “closed handed defensive strikes to Dilodovico’s “shoulder, chest and back.”
In another document, however, Waters added that he had struck Dilodovico “multiple times in the face.”
McCarthy also said he had written a letter to District Attorney Chris deBarrena-Sarobe about the matter, asking him to investigate Waters “past, present, and future cases. Waters has been involved in other cases in which aggressive methods were used on criminal suspects.
“He is a menace, a well-documented one at that, and I will be writing to the PSP Superintendent, the AttorneyGeneral, the governor, and whoever else I need to until an investigation is launched into him. I believe the first step, and most prudent step, is to involve your office,” the letter stated.
“They should make sure that this man is taken off the streets,” McCarthy said during Dilodovico’s sentencing.
Attempts to reach waters at Embreeville barracks were unsuccessful.
De Barrena-Sarobe said in an e-mail that he had received McCarthy’s letter, but that he would not discuss the issues McCarthy raised.
“The Chester County DA’s Office is committed to ensuring that everyone is protected under the law,” de Barrena-Sarobe said Friday in an e-mail. “But for a variety of legal and practical reasons, it would be inappropriate for me to discuss the issue raised in court.
“In the end, the hearing earlier this week was to sentence Mr. Dilodovico,” he said. “He was a danger to everyone—including himself—when he fled from police in his car. Thankfully, he has been held accountable for his actions.”
For his part, Dilodovico appeared contrite about the chase, but complained about his injuries, including a hernia he said he suffered from the arrest.
“Your honor, I do regret and I am sorry for the decisions I made that night,” he said. I am truly grateful I didn’t hurt anyone. I truly feel I am a better person today than I was.”
To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.
Source: Berkshire mont