Police said they found an odor of alcohol coming from the car that an 18-year-old Darien man was driving, and he admitted drinking beer.
But the teen also admitted that he’d been vaping with a vape pen found in the car and which contained THC, police said. That’s what seems to have led to the driver’s arrest on a charge of driving while under the influence.
Darien police described the unusual situation with this account, including accusations not proven in court:
At 12:40 a.m., Saturday, police saw a black Volvo sedan headed south on Noroton Avenue, near West Avenue. The Volvo’s lights were off, so police stopped the car.
When a police officer spoke with the driver, the officer smelled alcohol coming from inside the car. The driver admitted that he had been drinking beer. The officer also saw that the driver’s eyes were glassy.
When asked to take a standard field sobriety test, the driver did so but didn’t perform it to standard. He was then arrested on a charge of driving while under the influence.
Before the car was towed away, police checked inside it and found empty beer cans on the floor, as well as a vape pen in the pocket of the driver’s door. The pen contained THC oil (THC is the intoxicating ingredient in marijuana). The driver admitted that he had vaped with the pen earlier that evening.
At Darien Police Headquarters, a breath test of the driver at 1:24 a.m. showed 0.0 blood-alcohol content. Because the driver admitted to taking THC, he was asked to take a urine test, but refused.
Along with driving under the influence, he was charged with possession of narcotics, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of alcohol by a person under the age of 21 years old. He was released on a $200 bond and is scheduled to appear July 30 in state Superior Court in Stamford.