Police: DUI for Man, 23, Who Believed He Was in New Canaan

A driver smelling of alcohol told the Darien police officer who stopped him near Interstate 95 that he lived just around the corner — on Snowberry Lane in New Canaan, the town where the driver thought he already was, police said.

Police described the incident with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

At 2:38 a.m., the police officer saw a van fail to stop before it turned left onto Tokeneke Road from the Interstate 95 Exit 12 ramp. The officer stopped the van near the intersection of Old Kings Highway South and Locust Hill Road.

The driver, a 23-year-old New Canaan man, told the officer that he didn’t see any stop sign. The officer smelled a very strong odor of alcohol coming from inside the van and saw that the driver had glassy, red eyes and difficulty focusing his attention as he spoke.

The man said he was coming from Stamford Yacht Club, but hadn’t been drinking anything. He said he was going home, “right around the corner, on Snowberry Lane.” Asked what town he was in, the driver said, “New Canaan.” The driver said he also knew that the officer was from Norwalk Police Department.

The Darien officer asked the man to step out of the car.

When he was asked to take field sobriety tests, the man argued and repeatedly asked why he was being asked to take them, but he eventually agreed. He failed to complete two of them to an acceptable standard and refused to take a third.

Throughout the process, he continued to argue with police and demanded to contact his father and an attorney.

Police charged him with driving under the influence and failing to stop for a stop sign. He was later released after posting a $500 cash bond and is scheduled to appear June 1 in state Superior Court in Stamford.