Officer Anthony Rotolo
March 12, 2010
by Christine Yeres
On Tuesday, March 2 around 5:30 p.m. a female driver heading out of town across the Route 120 bridge in a white SUV noticed a dark Subaru wagon in front of her at the intersection of Douglas and Quaker. As the two cars continued north on Quaker, she saw that the driver of the wagon in front of her was driving erratically. At Seven Bridges Road, he bore right onto Seven Bridges. Since it was her route also, she made the turn as well.
Almost immediately, the driver of the Subaru wagon stopped abruptly for no apparent reason. As the woman attempted to drive around and past him, the driver jumped out of his car and started to yell at her. Because her windows were closed, she couldn’t hear what he was saying. She continued on her route, up Seven Bridges Road, now with the wagon tailgating her “aggressively,” according to Detective Sergeant James Wilson of the New Castle Police Department.
The woman turned left from Seven Bridges Road onto Route 133. The male driver following her turned left also, speeding up as he took the turn, fishtailing around her, and then pulling up alongside her, again yelling at her. She pulled out ahead of him and called 9-1-1. From near Roaring Brook elementary school, Officer Anthony Rotolo was dispatched to find the two cars.
“She was on her cell phone talking to the desk officer, who told me they were going past the fire house toward Route 100. He told me to catch them at the firehouse [Millwood Fire Station No. 1],” said Rotolo. The desk officer reported that she had taken a right onto Route 100 and was headed north. She continued to narrate her whereabouts to the desk officer, who communicated the information to Rotolo.
At first, Rotolo planned to intercept the two cars on Route 100 by driving out Seven Bridges Road, past the middle school. But when he realized that Seven Bridges Road was still blocked by a fallen tree, he cut through Turner Drive to Route 133 instead. For a few moments along Route 100, the woman’s cell phone lost connection, but she phoned police headquarters again. The desk officer told the woman to pull off Route 100 into Random Farms. Rotolo was making his way, lights and sirens on, through Random Farms Drive from Route 133 and found the two cars in Random Farms about 100 yards in from Route 100.
“She was stopped and he was pulled up next to her,” recalled Rotolo. “When he saw me he started up again and drove past me and I had to turn around and follow him another 200 yards before he stopped. The woman pulled up to us and I asked her what was going on and she filled me in. A couple of times I had to ask him to stay in his car. He wasn’t listening to what I was saying, and I realized he was inebriated.” By now joined by Officer Mike Skelly, Rotolo performed a field sobriety test and the officers arrested Roger Welch, 62, of Seven Bridges Road, for driving while intoxicated (DWI) as well as “aggravated” DWI, misdemeanors under the Vehicle and Traffic Law. Welch’s alcohol blood level was .23, nearly three times the legal limit of .08. His car was impounded; he was taken to the New Castle Police Station, fingerprinted, photographed, and issued an appearance ticket for March 25. He was released and a taxi picked him up.
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