A Greensburg man pleaded guilty Monday to using his SUV as a weapon against a romantic rival.

The case against Seth M. Vanderella, 27, was the second time in less than two years that he admitted causing injuries to another person using a vehicle.

On Monday, Vanderella pleaded guilty to charges of simple assault, reckless endangerment and three traffic offenses in connection with an incident July 4 in Hempfield. Prosecutors dismissed a more serious charge of aggravated assault.

Police said Vanderella, as he drove near Chambers and Brown avenues, spotted the man who was dating his former girlfriend and purposely drove into the man before speeding away.

Vanderella claimed he and the victim previously had been at odds.

“He was the aggressor in this,” Vanderella said when questioned about the incident by Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Tim Krieger.

Krieger sentenced Vanderella to serve six to 23 months in jail but gave him credit for time he has served behind bars since his arrest and ordered he be immediately paroled. The judge also ordered Vanderella to have no contact with his former girlfriend and her boyfriend and to undergo drug and alcohol treatment and imposed a $1,000 fine.

Vanderella previously served a three to 23-month jail sentence for an incident in April 2018 in which he was charged with hitting a pedestrian in a Hempfield shopping plaza parking lot.

In that case, Vanderella pleaded guilty to hit-and-run and other offenses. Police said Vanderella fled after he drove onto a sidewalk at Greengate East Plaza and hit a woman with his car. The woman sustained multiple broken bones and bruises, police said.

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