A Darien police officer first spotted an ex-boyfriend chasing his former girlfriend off of the Exit 11 ramp from I-95 South onto the Post Road. The 19-year-old man was later charged with disorderly conduct and reckless driving.
Police gave this account of the matter, including accusations not proven in court:
Just before 8 p.m., Saturday, a police officer saw a black SUV following a white one off of the exit ramp and turn left onto the Post Road. As they continued west, the officer followed, watching both vehicles being driven erratically, weaving in and out of traffic.
The officer briefly lost site of the vehicles because of traffic congestion, but saw them again as they both turned right onto Renshaw Road, rapidly speeding up. The officer was sure they were both driving above the 25 mph speed limit.
The officer also saw the black SUV drive on the wrong side of the road, next to the driver’s side of the white SUV, which would block traffic if any was coming from the other direction.
The officer came up to the vehicles and stopped the black one, a 2017 Porche Macan, as the white one left the scene, but the officer was able to note the license plate number of that vehicle.
The driver of the Porsche, a Norwalk resident, identified the other driver has his current girlfriend, with whom he was just having a small disagreement. Asked about his erratic driving, he said he was “just trying to talk to her.”
The man said the two had planned to have dinner in Norwalk, but the wait at the restaurant was too long, so they decided to leave, and the girlfriend decided to go. He tried to call her, but she wouldn’t answer, so he followed her from Norwalk into Darien.
A registration check of the license plate number led police to the ex-girlfriend’s home in Darien, where another officer spoke with her. The officer noticed that she was extremely emotional during the interview and seemed to be afraid of the Norwalk man.
She said she and the man had broken up a few days ago, but both were meeting in order to exchange each other’s belongings. She said they had planned on getting dinner together, but the wait at the restaurant was too long, which irritated the man.
She said he told her he was going to Westport to eat with his parents, and she told him she would go home. When she drove away, she was confused to find the man following her on Route 7, which wasn’t on his way to Westport.
She said the man got out of hiis vehicle at one point when both were stopped at a red light and reached through her open window, taking her phone from her. He ended the call she was on and loudly asked why she wouldn’t answer his calls. She said he then “chased” her all the way to Darien until a police officer pulled him over. She asked police to tell the man not to contact her in any way.
The man was asked about the differences in his story and the woman’s. He said that the two had, in fact, broken up, but denied that he chased the woman.
The man was charged with disorderly conduct and reckless driving. He was issued a misdemeanor summons to appear Monday, June 5 in state Superior Court in Stamford and told to have no further contact with the woman.