A 26-year-old man driving downtown was seen with a mobile phone in front of his face at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 11, Darien police said.
Police gave this account (including accusations not proven in court):
A police officer first saw the man on Corbin Drive, then stopped his car on Old Kings Highway South, near Locust Hill Road. The driver, a Waterbury man, said he was an Uber driver responding to a message.
When speaking with the driver, the officer smelled marijuana and asked how much was in the vehicle. The driver at first just stared at the officer, then said he just had a marijuana cigarette in his ashtray.
A search of the vehicle found a glass baby food jar with two blunts (cigars hollowed out and filled with marijuana), and marijuana cigarettes in the front ashtray and in the two ashtrays near the back seats. The officer destroyed the remains of at least one roach on the scene and seized the blunts.
The driver was charged with two infractions — using a cell phone while driving and possession of marijuana. There were no signs the driver was intoxicated.