A Long Neck Point Road man on a bicycle was charged with trespassing by a Tokeneke Association constable, but only with difficulty, according to police.
According to Darien police, the constable (one of three former Darien police officers who work for the association and who all have arrest powers) gave the following account (an accusation not proven in court):
At about 7:20 p.m. on Thursday, July 23, the constable saw a cyclist riding south on Cross Road, one of the Tokeneke Association’s private roads. He told the cyclist, a 54-year-old man, to stop, but the rider looked at him and continued pedaling.
The constable then got behind the cyclist, who started heading east on Searles Road, got ahead of him and stood in the middle of the road near an intersection. The cyclist stopped.
The constable advised the bike rider that he was on a private road where non-residents weren’t supposed to be trespassing. The cyclist said he was not a resident but did belong to the Tokeneke Club. Asked for his name, the man said, “John Smith.” He said he didn’t have any identification on him, or a phone.
He also said he wasn’t “going to put up with” the constable’s actions and used foul language, then began to ride off. The constable told him to stop while he checked on the club membership status of “John Smith.”
When the cyclist took off, the constable got back in his car, passed the bicycle on Searles Road, got out and told the rider to stop. The cyclist drove at the officer, braking at the last moment as the officer put his hands forward on the bicycle handle to make sure it stopped. The officer noticed the cyclist had a cell phone in his hand.
The officer confirmed there was no “John Smith” on the Tokeneke Club membership rolls. When the constable told the cyclist he would be charged, the cyclist gave his real name and address. The constable found a Connecticut driver’s license on the man, which confirmed his identification. He wasn’t a member of the club under his real name, either.
The man was charged with third-degree criminal trespass and interfering with an arrest (a more serious misdemeanor). He was released on a promise to appear Aug. 3 in state Superior Court in Stamford.
That’s so ridiculous. If the guy was driving a car, he wouldn’t have been stopped. How unfair and stupid.