Darienite (https://darienite.com/tag/darien-driving-while-under-the-influence)
A Brooklyn, NY man, now 43, had been dodging his required appearances in state Superior Court in Stamford for more than 18 years since his arrest on a driving-while-intoxicated charge in Darien, police said. But that dodging ended on Monday, Aug. 13, when the man turned himself in to Darien police, posted the $2,000 bond and was told to appear Aug. 23 in court. Sergey Pisarevsky of West 5th St.
A 26-year-old woman had more than twice the legal alcohol limit in her blood and her driving privileges had been already revoked when police stopped her car downtown on Saturday night, police said. Darien police described what happened with this account (including accusations not proven in court):
Earlier that day, police had received a report of a “blue minivan” that had been involved in a collision in the parking lot of Stop and Shop supermarket on Heights Road, so they were on the lookout for a similar car with damage. At about 10:02 p.m., police saw a blue Toyota 4Runner sport utility vehicle that had received “substantial damage.” It was being driven on West Avenue near its intersection with the Post Road. A police officer pulled up to the SUV, which had New York state license plates, and asked the driver what happened to the vehicle.
Police say a 38-year-old man driving on Leroy Avenue just before 2 a.m. was stopped when his SUV went over the double yellow line three times, and when his breath was tested, he was a bit over the limit for blood-alcohol content. Darien police gave this account of the incident, which includes accusations not proven in court:
The officer saw a gray, 2005 Toyota RAV4 sport utility vehicle traveling north on Leroy Avenue just before 2 a.m. on Saturday morning, April 8. After seeing the vehicle cross over the line into the oncoming lane three times, the officer had the driver pull over near the intersection of Leroy and McLaren Road. _________
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At the stretch of the Post Road where a grassy median splits up eastbound and westbound traffic, a police officer recently saw an intoxicated driver going west on the eastbound side. No accident resulted. Police said the driver was seen at 1:50 a.m. Friday, and the police officer stopped the driver on the entrance ramp to the southbound-traffic side of Interstate 95 near Exit 13. Police described what happened next in this account, which includes statements not proven in court:
The driver, a New Haven resident, was first seen leaving the southbound Exit 13 ramp. When the police officer stopped the black 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the officer smelled alcohol coming from inside the vehicle.
A Darien police officer saw a woman driving so slowly on Interstate 95 that traffic was backing up behind her as she changed lanes without using turn signals, police said. The woman was charged with driving while under the influence. Darien police described what happened with this account (including accusations not proven in court):
The officer was driving southbound near Exit 10 on the highway at 1:20 a.m. on Saturday, March 18 when he saw the car, a 2010 Toyota Prius, as the Stamford woman was driving it. _________
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Darien police said that when a 36-year-old man driving on the Post Road near Thorndal Circle was charged with driving under the influence, he already had an ignition interlock device in his vehicle — a machine mandated for DUI arrestees to prevent them from driving while intoxicated again. Police described what happened with this account (including accusations not proven in court):
Joel Fernandes of Riverside Avenue in Stamford was driving a gray 2003 Toyota Avalon east on the Post Road at about 3:11 a.m. when a police officer saw the car switch lanes without giving the proper signal and then saw the car drive over the double yellow line three times. When the car was stopped near the intersection of the Post Road and Thorndal Circle, a police officer smelled alcohol coming from the vehicle, along with the odor of marijuana that had just been smoked. A police officer had to ask Fernandes numerous times to provide his driver’s license, insurance and registration. Fernandes’ eyes were red and glassy, and his speech was slow and slurred.
Although he appears to have been living in the area for some time, possibly years, a 28-year-old driver told police he didn’t have a Connecticut driver’s license when he was stopped on Old Kings Hwy. South on Wednesday just before he was charged with driving while under the influence, police said. Instead of a driver’s license, the man, a resident of Washington Street in Norwalk, handed the officer his Mexican passport, according to police. Darien police described what happened with this account (including accusations not proven in court):
At about 1:09 a.m., a police officer saw a green 2002 Chrysler 300 moving east on the Post Road near Old Kings Highway South. The car crossed over the double yellow line three times within a quarter of a mile, and the officer stopped the vehicle after it had turned onto Old Kings Highway South.
A 29-year-old driver later charged with driving while under the influence didn’t stop for a stop sign and crossed the double yellow line on Tokeneke Road four times, Darien police said. Police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:
At about 12:46 a.m. on Friday, a police officer saw a 2011 Ford F350 pickup truck leave the Exit 12 ramp of Interstate 95 and, without stopping for the stop sign at the end of the ramp, turn right on Tokeneke Road. The pickup crossed over the double yellow line four times. The officer stopped the vehicle near the Tokeneke Road intersection with Harriet Lane. _________
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A 26-year-old man told police he had about five drinks before he was charged with driving while under the influence at a 2:09 a.m. traffic stop Sunday on the Post Road near Academy Street, police said. Darien police described the incident with this account, which includes accusations not proven in court:
A police officer saw a gray 2010 Nissan Z being driven without headlights and pulled it over. The officer immediately smelled alcohol coming from the driver and saw the man’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy. _________
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When a 18-year-old driver on Bailey Avenue tried to make a U-turn in his 2008 Saturn Vue, he hit a tree, and his air bag deployed, Darien police said. And from the police account, it looks like his trouble was only beginning. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:
The man was out of the SUV when police arrived after the accident was reported at 9:25 p.m. on Dec. 27. The vehicle’s air bag had deployed.
Blood-alcohol content (BAC) levels are frequently part of news reports about charges of driving under the influence. Here’s some insight into why they’re used by police and prosecutors. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism published the chart below showing possible impairment levels from various BACs in a pamphlet. But impairment can vary quite a bit from person to person, as the pamphlet points out:
“What tips the balance from drinking that has pleasant effects to drinking that can cause harm varies among individuals. Age, drinking experience, gender, the amount of food eaten, even ethnicity all can influence how much is too much.”
Darien police said a 36-year-old woman was charged with driving while under the influence after a driver on the Merritt Parkway followed her off an exit into Darien and then called police. Police described what happened with this account (including accusations not proven in court):
At about 8 p.m., police were sent to the intersection of Mansfield Avenue and Stephen Mather Road on the report of a motor vehicle being driven in an erratic way. While officers were driving to the scene, they were told the complainant, a Stamford resident, somehow had got the driver of the erratic vehicle to stop on Stephen Mather Road. On approaching the car — a black 2014 Nissan Altima — police saw damage around the front bumper and headlights. The driver, a Norwalk resident, told police she had hit a deer somewhere, but couldn’t say where or when.