LANCASTER, Pa. — A New Jersey man was convicted of two counts of aggravated assault and two other charges relating to a 2021 road-rage attack on a woman in Lancaster County, prosecutors said Friday.
Aiven Rosario, 26, of East Orange, was also found guilty of simple assault and criminal mischief Friday following a three-day trial, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office said.
The jury deliberated for just over two hours before returning a verdict in a trial overseen by Lancaster County Judge Jeffrey Conrad.
Assistant District Attorney Kyle Linardo prosecuted the case and presented evidence that Rosario followed the victim into a parking lot in the 1400 block of Millport Road after claiming the victim cut off his and his mother’s vehicles.
He then attacked the victim's vehicle with a golf club, shattering her driver's side window and hitting her in the head, causing her to sustain a concussion, according to Linardo.
“Folks, every person that has ever driven or ridden in a car has had a moment where they see another person on the road and go ‘what is this person doing,’ and have gotten upset, frustrated, annoyed, or some other adjective not appropriate to say in court," Linardo said in his closing argument. "But nothing [the victim] did justified the defendant taking a golf club and swinging it with enough force to shatter [the victim’s] window, break the golf club in two, and hit [the victim] to the point that she is still suffering from a concussion to this day."
Rosario's defense attorney claimed his client did not intend to strike the victim, but Linardo countered that argument by pointing out that if Rosario had just wanted to damage the car, he could’ve hit any of the other five windows, metal parts, taillights or headlights.
Instead, Linardo said, Rosario hit the window right next to the victim’s head, shattering the glass and breaking the club in two.
Evidence showed the West Lampeter Township Police responded to the incident at 9:52 p.m. on March 6, 2021, and found the victim sitting in the driver’s seat of her vehicle with a lump on her head and complaining of severe pain.
The police also found the broken golf club. The shaft of the golf club was recovered underneath the defendant’s vehicle while the head of the golf club was recovered inside the victim’s car, according to testimony.
The victim’s frantic 911 call where she described what had happened to her was played for the jury.
Dashcam video from the responding police vehicle that was also played for the jury showed the aftermath of the scene and recorded the defendant saying he’d break the victim’s window “10,000 times," according to prosecutors.
The victim would later be diagnosed with a concussion and post-concussion syndrome.
Linardo made a motion to increase bail from $35,000 cash bail and Judge Conrad remanded Rosario to custody in lieu of $500,000 cash bail pending sentencing.
Rosario was also required to surrender his passport.
West Lampeter Township Police Officer Alexander Daminger filed charges and testified at trial.
