FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Daniel Santo Dovi appeared in Broward County court on Wednesday. The Pennsylvania resident was arrested after a chase on Interstate 95 ended with a Florida Highway Patrol trooper’s maneuver and a rollover crash.
On Tuesday, Dovi was in a white Jeep Wrangler when the chase began in Lauderdale Beach just as detectives were investigating the deaths of two men who had been stabbed to death near to his illegal camp site.
Dovi, 64, was diagnosed with Schizophrenia and he has been on disability for the last eight years, his brother Anthony Dovi told Broward Judge Corey Cawthon.
“He is very peaceful,” Anthony Dovi said, adding his brother has been struggling with their mother’s death in 2018, and he has been off his medication for about a year.
Prosecutor Eric Linder said Michael Jones disagreed. Jones called 911 after he found Dovi in his property. He said Dovi pushed him, threatened to kill him, crashed into his Porsche and his partner’s golf cart and fled. Jones said he later learned from officers Dovi was armed with two hunting knives.
“He is in great fear for his safety and well being,” Linder said.
Daniel Santo Dovi is facing two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of criminal mischief, fleeing and eluding law enforcement officers and battery. Cawthon set his bond at $97,000.
Fort Lauderdale Police Department detectives are also investigating Dovi in the case of the two men killed in Lauderdale Beach.