Suspended Leetsdale Officer, Economy Man Plead Not Guilty

A suspended officer and an Economy man pleaded not guilty Friday during a preliminary hearing on charges connected to a drunken-driving crash a year ago in Economy, Beaver County.

Beaver County Judge Dale Nicholson held Wayne Drish, 36, of Bell Acres and Jason Ludovico, 31, of Economy, for trial on all charges.

Ludovico is charged with drunken driving, reckless driving and careless driving. Drish, a Leetsdale police officer for 12 years, is charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution of another person, obstructing the law and providing false statements to law enforcement. Drish, who has a wife and three children, has been pending the outcome of the case.

After lengthy testimony, Stephen Colafella, Drish's attorney, asked the court to . Colafella said the prosecution's case is lacking because its evidence is circumstantial.

James Ross, attorney for Ludovico, said he also found the prosecution’s theory troubling, particularly because it offered no proof to dispute the veteran officer's repeated assertion that he was driving.

“You have an officer admitting he was driving, to his jeopardy in this case,” Ross said.

But Assistant District Attorney Brittany Smith said the defense tactic for Drish and Ludovico is to twist the truth so the two can get off without punishment.

Economy Police Officer Jason Woods testified that Drish was driving Ludovico's VW Jetta when the two left Dave’s Tavern in Economy about 11:45 p.m. Aug. 1. Ludovico’s car ran a stop sign at a four-way intersection on Bradford Park Road, striking a utility pole, Woods said.

John Snyder, of Bradford Woods, testified that he and his wife, who was driving their car, were on the way home when they witnessed the crash. Snyder said he spotted Ludovico's speeding car coming from the right as his wife started to proceed through the four-way stop.

The car “was obviously not stopping at the stop sign,” he said.

Snyder said he yelled out to his wife, who stopped, and they watched the vehicle pass in front of them and hit the utility pole. They pulled off the road, and Snyder said he walked to the crashed car while his wife called 911.

Snyder said he grabbed a flashlight and came upon Drish standing outside the driver’s side door just as Ludovico emerged from the driver’s side. He said he asked the men if they were OK but they didn't answer. He then asked who was driving, but still got no response, he said.

Snyder said he turned to Drish and asked him directly if he’d been driving. He said Drish told him no. He also testified that Ludovico had a bleeding gash on his forehead and appeared to be disoriented. 

Woods testified that as he arrived and began to get out of his cruiser, Drish walked toward him and greeted him. Woods said he'd met Drish before, twice during work and twice outside work. Woods said Drish told him he’d been driving.

“I took Drish’s comments that he was driving at face value,” Woods testified under defense questioning.

As he looked at the evidence, however, Woods said he came to a different conclusion.

Drish didn’t appear to be drunk, but Woods said Ludovico was visibly intoxicated and was bleeding profusely from a head injury consistent with the car’s damaged windshield. The car’s passenger-side door opened easily while the driver’s side door opened with some difficulty, woods said.

When Woods went inside the passenger side to retrieve insurance information from the glove box, he found a ball cap on the passenger seat that belonged to Drish, he testified.

Woods said a bartender from the tavern had been following Ludovico's car and stopped at the scene. She said she didn't know who the driver was, Woods said.

Snyder testified that he heard Drish tell the officer he was driving. Shortly after that, he said, he discreetly told Woods that Drish was not driving. 

After taking in that evidence, Woods testified that he came to the same conclusion and told Drish, “Dude, you weren’t driving.”

Drish replied, “Yes I was,” Woods said.

Woods said Ludovico refused medical treatment and was transported to the police station. Woods said he knew Ludovico from a previous incident and, at the station, asked Ludovico to tell him truthfully, Marine to Marine, if he’d been driving. Ludovico said he couldn’t remember if he'd been driving, Woods said.

Woods later gave Ludovico a breathalyzer test, which resulted in a reading of 0.253 percent, more than triple the 0.08 limit at which a person is considered to be legally intoxicated in Pennsylvania.

Police said they obtained a search warrant for the car and took samples of the blood and hair from the windshield in front of the driver's seat. A Miller Lite beer can police said they found on the passenger-side door also was seized as evidence.

Beaver County Detective Timmie Patrick testified that Ludovico contacted his office on Aug. 4, three days after the crash, to report he couldn’t remember if he was driving. A couple hours later, Drish called to report he was driving and not Ludovico, Patrick said.

Despite calling within hours of each other, the two men maintained that they didn't know each other prior to that night and had met at the bar, according to their attorneys. Drish offered to drive an intoxicated Ludovico home, the defense attorneys said.

Patrick said he told Drish during their interview about the evidence recovered from the car. He said Drish remained adamant that he was the driver. Drish said he was driving Ludovico home in Ludovico’s car when Ludovico,for unknown reasons, jerked the steering wheel and caused the crash, Patrick said.

Woods testified that Drish’s DNA matched forensic evidence from the beer can found on the passenger-side door.

Ross questioned why police didn’t interview the bartender during the seven months before they filed charges in the crash or why none of the investigators lifted fingerprints from the steering wheel or gear shift.

Ross also said Ludovico's head could have hit the windshield at an angle because both airbags deployed. 

Ross asked if it was possible that Ludovico was too intoxicated to drive so Drish offered to drive him home and the bartender followed them to pick Drish up and give him a ride afterward.

"Why would Mr. Drish, who is a police officer, risk his career, his reputation, to lie to a police officer?" Ross asked.

The two men are released on bail pending trial.