Trooper found guilty in assault retrial

John Sromovsky punched suspected drunk driver in the face

WEST CHESTER» The Pennsylvania state trooper who punched a suspected drunk driver in the face as he sat handcuffed and seat-belted in a patrol car, saying he would give him “a reason to cry,” has been convicted of assault.

A Common Pleas Court jury hearing the retrial of the case in Senior Judge Thomas Gavin’s courtroom delivered its guilty verdict on charges of simple assault Wednesday after hearing three days of testimony, including John Robert Sromovsky’s own testimony that he was simply trying to control a volatile situation that the driver had started by resisting arrest when he threw the punch.

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for only about 30 minutes before returning with its verdict of guilty on counts of attempting to cause bodily injury and causing bodily injury. The two counts will be merged when Sromovsky is sentenced. Gavins set that date for June 7.

It was the second time that the trooper had gone to trial on the charges, which stem from an encounter he had with Lorenzo Lo-

pez, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who had been stopped by another trooper on suspicion of drunk driving in September

2016.

The first jury found him not guilty on charges of misdemeanor counts of official oppression and terroristic threats in November, but could not reach a unanimous verdict on the simple assault charge.

Sromovsky remains free on bail pending his sentencing. He had been suspended from pay from his position with the state police, where he was a trooper at the Avondale barracks. State police are now expected to begin administrative proceedings to terminate his employment with the agency.

Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Morgan, who tried both the original case and the retrial, declined comment pending sentencing except to thank the jurors for their decision. Defense attorney Christian Hoey, who represented Sromovsky at both proceeding, expressed his thanks to the panel for its consideration of the case after the verdict came in.

Sromovsky has maintained that Lopez had been acting unruly and had fought with state police and a municipal police officer as they were trying to take him into custody on the drunk driving charge. He said that he believed Lopez was a danger not only to the other officers, but to himself, and that he needed to contain the situation when he encountered Lopez in the state police cruiser.

“My instinct was to control the situation,” he said in his testimony Wednesday, adding that Lopez had been reportedly banging his head against the patrol car window. He would have been a risk to anyone who tried to transport him to the nearby barracks for processing, the trooper said.

But under meticulous cross-examination by Morgan, the eightyear veteran agreed that the fight between Lopez and the other officers had ended by the time he arrived on the scene, and that Lopez was indeed handcuffed with his hands behind his back and restrained by a seat belt when Sromovsky opened the door to confront him.

He acknowledged that the other officers on the scene were safe when he arrived, and that none had been injured in the scuffle with Lopez.

“You had no reason to punch him in the face, right?” asked Morgan.

“Yes,” Sromovsky answered.

The incident with Sromovsky, 34, of Upper Chichester, Delaware County, was captured on a video recorder in the state police cruiser where Lopez was seated. The video was played for the jury as many as 10 times during the trial.

According to a criminal complaint filed in the case, Lopez was stopped and taken into custody around 10 p.m. Sept. 9, 2016 on Gap-Newport Pike in Avondale on suspicion of DUI. Lopez was combative with the trooper who stopped him, Andrew Revels, and had to be subdued by officers who ultimately maneuvered him in the passenger seat of a patrol car, in handcuffs.

Sromovsky, who was on duty and in uniform, heard a call for backup because of the fight, and arrived on the scene after Lopez had been subdued. He approached the cruiser and opened the opposite side door to confront Lopez.

“What (expletive deleted) are you crying for, huh?” Sromovsky reportedly asked Lopez, of Wilmington, an undocumented immigrant who is also known as Augustine Peleayz. “I’ll give you a reason to cry (expletive)!” His fist can be seen striking Lopez in the face, which Morgan contended caused a bloody nose.

Lopez, who was intoxicated, began to yell. “Give me more! Give me more!” while leaning across the car seat. “Give you more?” Sromovsky asked, and Lopez’s face can be seen jerking back towards the passenger side of the vehicle, the effect of a second blow by the trooper.