A 20-year-old East Marlborough Township man narrowly avoided being sent to prison on Tuesday, Feb. 3, in Kennett Square district court.

Matthew J. Scott appeared before Magisterial District Judge Daniel J. Maisano to waive his preliminary hearing for his fourth DUI arrest. Maisano shook his head as he read the list of offenses, which including driving under the influence, reckless endangerment, public drunkenness, driving with a suspended license, possession of alcohol by a minor, failing to report an accident, abandoning a vehicle, and other traffic offenses.

“I have a particular concern about multiple DUIs,” Maisano said, explaining that the only way to protect the public from a repeat offender was to put them in Chester County Prison. He said he did not want to read an article about someone for whom he granted bail who then killed a mother and her baby in an accident.

But Scott’s attorney, Lorraine M. B. Finnegan, said her client is receiving outpatient drug and alcohol counseling three times a week, reporting monthly to his probation officer, and submitting to random drug testing. She requested a low bail amount that would enable him to continue that regimen.

Maisano agreed, setting bail at 10 percent of $5,000. However, the judge said he changed his mind only after listening to Finnegan’s recitation. Scott’s bail would be revoked if he failed to continue his treatment or tested positive for drugs or alcohol, the judge said.

According to court records, Pennsylvania State Police Tpr. Andrew Revels responded to a Kennett Township accident scene on Friday, Dec. 12, at 11:54 p.m. When Revels arrived at the 400 block of North Mill Road, Scott had already fled to his home less than a mile away, the criminal complaint said. Scott’s 1993 Plymouth Voyager had slammed into a PECO pole with a transformer, snapping it in half.

After locating a man who had been a passenger in the vehicle on a nearby front porch who identified Scott as the driver, the trooper went to Scott’s residence and found him with bleeding lacerations and slurred speech. Field sobriety tests were not conducted due to Scott’s “passive-aggressive behavior,” and he was placed under arrest at 1:17 a.m., the complaint said.

The complaint also noted that abandoning the accident scene posed a hazard for motorists on North Mill Road, which is dark and winding and was strewn with debris from the crash. “Given the nature of the road, oncoming motorists would have no indication of a crash ahead,” the complaint said.

According to court records, Scott was arrested for his second DUI on May 26, 2013, on Route 1 at West Baltimore Pike. Police said his blood-alcohol level registered 0.09. The legal limit is 0.08. (No record exists of a first offense, suggesting it was handled by juvenile authorities.)

Less than three months later, Scott blew a stop sign at East Locust Lane and Walnut Street in East Marlborough Township, ignoring a trooper’s attempt to detain him. With a BAC of 0.15, he led police on a brief chase before his silver Chevy Camaro got stuck in the mud near a mushroom complex, records said.

At sentencing time, Scott, a 2013 graduate of Unionville High, benefited from a loophole in DUI penalties that has since been corrected by lawmakers, prosecutors said. He received 30 to 60 days in prison plus five years’ probation for his third offense on Aug. 2, 2013, a penalty that was based on second-offense guidelines.

In 2009, the state Supreme Court ruled that until a person is convicted of drunk-driving, the offense doesn’t count for sentencing purposes. Because Scott had not yet pleaded guilty to the May 2013 offense, he could not be penalized for it under the previous law. Scott didn’t plead guilty to the earlier offense until this past March when he received 30 days to six months in jail.

Under the legislation signed by Gov. Tom Corbett this past fall, prosecutors may charge drunk-driving suspects as repeat offenders if they are re-arrested for DUI before they are convicted of an earlier offense.