A 30-year-old man who had been arrested on a charge of driving while under the influence in New York state was arrested for DUI after 2 a.m. Friday on the Post Road, Darien police said.
Police described the matter with this account (including accusations not proven in court):
At about 2 a.m., Timothy Stillwell drove into Darien from Norwalk on the Post Road when a police officer saw the man’s blue Toyota with New York license plates pass by. The car seemed to have a flat right front tire, and Stillwell soon pulled into a parking lot at 151 Post Road. The officer followed to see if the driver needed help.
When the officer approached, Stillwell was walking around the parking lot as he talked into his phone. When asked if he needed any help, Stillwell said he didn’t.
The officer also saw there was fresh damage to the right front bumper of the 2004 Toyota Corolla. The officer also noticed the odor of alcohol that seemed to come from Stillwell’s breath. On top of that, the man’s eyes were extremely glassy.
Stillwell told the officer that he had just been at BJ Ryan’s Pub in Norwalk, where he had two beers and two shots, the last one 15 minutes before leaving. He had hit a curb on Belden Avenue in Norwalk before coming to Darien, he said.
A Darien police dispatcher contacted Norwalk police to see if any hit-and-run accidents had been reported, but Norwalk police said none had.
The officer directed Stillwell to perform field sobriety tests, which Stillwell couldn’t successfully complete. He was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol.
When asked for his driver’s license, Stillwell said that he didn’t have any identification on him. Police also found that Stillwell’s New York driver’s license was suspended, and he didn’t have a Connecticut driver’s license. Lack of car insurance had led to his car registration being suspended. Further records checks found that he had been charged with DUI in New York state back in 2008.
Stillwell refused to take a breath test for his blood-alcohol level. In addition to driving while under the influence, he was charged with driving an unregistered motor vehicle and driving without a driver’s license.
He was later released on a $250 bond and told to appear June 27 in state Superior Court in Stamford — which he can walk to from his home just around the corner on Strawberry Hill Avenue.