An officer on patrol saw a car speeding at 52 mph on the Post Road near Center Street, downtown at about 1:14 a.m., Saturday and later charged the 32-year-old man behind the wheel with driving while under the influence, police said.
Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:
The officer followed the black Volkswagen Passat east along the Post Road, then when it turned onto Mansfield Avenue. The car left the traveling part of the roadway and almost struck a curb, then the driver overcorrected and crossed the double yellow lines on Mansfield.
The officer stopped the vehicle on Mansfield Avenue near its intersection with Highland Avenue. When talking with the driver, the officer smelled an alcoholic drink coming from him. The driver said he’d been drinking.
The driver took a standard field sobriety test but didn’t perform it to standard and was arrested on the DUI charge. While taking an inventory of items in the car before it was towed away, police officers found a plastic baggie containing marijuana on the front passenger seat. Police didn’t say how much.
Breath tests on the driver at Police Headquarters showed his blood-alcohol content at 0.1997 at 2:14 a.m. (an hour after the officer stopped the car) and at 0.1915 at 2:34 a.m. That’s more than twice the legal limit for adult drivers — 0.08.
Along with DUI, the driver, whose address was listed as 300 Mansfield Ave. (the same as the Country Club of Darien) was charged with possession of narcotics, failure to drive on the right side of the road and traveling too fast for road conditions.
The driver was released on a $250 bond and is scheduled to appear Oct. 15 in state Superior Court in Stamford.