Darien Driving While Under the Influence 2019

Study: Connecticut Ranks Low in DUI Arrests — at No. 43

Police: DUI for Woman, 53, Who Swerved Into Opposing Lane on Tokeneke Road

Police: DUI for Man, 43, Driving Erratically on Post Road With 3X Legal Blood-Alcohol Limit

Police: DUI for Man, 38, Seen Swerving in Lane, Found With More Than 3X Legal Blood-Alcohol Limit

Police: DUI for Man, 44, After Collision at Intersection of Post Road and Brookside Road

Police: DUI for Man, 33, After He Drives Car Into Rocks by the Side of the Road

Police: DUI for Man, 32, After Car Crashes Into Stone Wall Near Sharp Curve on Hollow Tree Ridge Road

Police: DUI for Darien Man, 32, Speeding Downtown After 1 AM

Police: DUI for Man, 26, Who Went Through Red Light at 2:39 AM, Then Swerved in His Lane

Police: DUI for Man, 27, Swerving Suddenly on Interstate 95

Police: DUI for 18-Year-Old Driver Whose Car Struck Utility Pole and Went Up in Flames

Police: DUI For Man, 45, Found With Heroin, After a Report of His Car Striking a Curb on the Post Road

Police: Man, 43, Encouraged Two Underage Caddies to Drink Alcohol, Held Drinking Games on Golf Course

Police: DUI for Darien Teen with 0.0 Blood-Alcohol Content, But Who Admitted Vaping THC

Police: DUI for Teenager, 19, Who Sideswipes Car, Crashes, ‘Soils’ Police Station

Public Safety

By DARIENITE.COM | December 19, 2019

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By David Gurliacci | December 9, 2019

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By DARIENITE.COM | September 28, 2019

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By David Gurliacci | September 27, 2019

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By David Gurliacci | August 19, 2019

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By David Gurliacci | July 22, 2019

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By David Gurliacci | July 2, 2019

A new study found that Connecticut has the nation’s 43rd highest rate of drunk-driving arrests. Connecticut’s rate of DUI arrests in 2018 was 216.4 per 100,000; the national average was 330 per 100,000. From 2009 to 2018, Connecticut’s annual DUI arrests went down 25.2%, a bit more than the nationwide average. — an announcement from US Drug Test Centers; all images are from the report

An estimated 30 people are killed in drunk-driving accidents every day in the U.S. Despite the widespread awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving, many states have rates of DUI arrests that are troubling. US Drug Test Centers.com today released its study, Worst States for DUIs, which uses the latest data from the FBI on arrests for driving under the influence in 2018 and how those rates have changed over time.

A 53-year-old Norwalk driver was intoxicated when a police officer saw her swerving over the double yellow line into the northbound lane on Tokeneke Road when she was traveling south, police said. Police gave this further account of what happened, including accusations not proven in court:

At 12:56 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 6, a police officer on patrol saw a gray Honda traveling south. The vehicle swerved several times and crossed over the yellow lines into the oncoming-traffic lane. The officer stopped the vehicle near the Norwalk border.

Night Police Lights CT State Police on Facebook March 30-17 uploaded 06-20-17

A 43-year-old man was behind the wheel of a compact SUV and had a blood-alcohol content recorded at three times the legal limit after a police officer saw him driving erratically on the Post Road just west of its intersection with Quaker Lane, police said. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

While on patrol, the officer saw a green Toyota Rav4 being driven erratically east on the Post Road at about 10:36 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 24. The officer stopped the vehicle near Quaker Lane (across the Post Road from the firefighter statue and just east of the Post Road/Renshaw Road intersection). While speaking with the driver, Jose Olivio-Alvarado, the officer smelled an alcoholic drink coming from the man, saw that the man’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy and that he was slurring his words.

A 38-year-old man was swerving within his lane as he drove south on Tokeneke Road at about 2 a.m., Saturday, and when the man took a breath test an hour later, his blood-alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit, police said. Police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

The man, Andres Farfan, was driving his blue Toyota Corolla in front of a police officer, who saw the car swerve and noticed that a rear brake light was out. The officer stopped the car near the entrance to Interstate 95. When the officer spoke with Farfan, he could smell alcohol coming from the driver, whose eyes were red and glassy. Farfan also seemed to have trouble concentrating as they spoke.

A 44-year-old man was intoxicated early Saturday afternoon when he drove his SUV through a red traffic light and collided with another SUV, causing heavy damage to to both vehicles but no injuries, Darien police said. — This account is based on the police description of what happened, including accusations not proven in court. The driver, Estuardo Reyes, was driving west on the Post Road at its intersection with Brookside Road shortly before 3:47 p.m. when the gray Chevrolet Suburban he was driving, a full-size sport-utility vehicle, struck a blue Land Rover Discovery that had been driving south on Brookside Road pulled out into the intersection. Witnesses told police that the Suburban went through a red traffic light. Reyes told police the light was green.

A 33-year-old driver with passengers in his car drove through an intersection and into a pile of rocks just at about 9:13 p.m., Sunday, while he was intoxicated, police said. There were two passengers in the car with him; nobody was harmed. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

After the OnStar vehicle security service notified police that the air-bag in the car had been deployed near the intersection of Camp Avenue and Hollow Tree Ridge Road, officers were dispatched to the scene. There they saw a white Ford Focus with significant front-end damage. It appeared that the car had been driven east on Camp Avenue, failed to stop for the stop sign, and went into the pile of rocks.

A 32-year-old driver who received a minor injury when his car struck a stone wall on the side of Hollow Tree Ridge Road in August has been charged with driving while under the influence, Darien police said. Police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

The crash happened at about 1:30 a.m., Monday, Aug. 5. (Darienite.com could find no previous Darien police announcement of this incident, although it led to what police now describe as a minor injury and the driver going to the hospital.)

The accident occurred on Hollow Tree Ridge Road near Wee Burn Lane. In that area, Hollow Tree Ridge Road makes a roughly 90-degree turn.

An officer on patrol saw a car speeding at 52 mph on the Post Road near Center Street, downtown at about 1:14 a.m., Saturday and later charged the 32-year-old man behind the wheel with driving while under the influence, police said. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

The officer followed the black Volkswagen Passat east along the Post Road, then when it turned onto Mansfield Avenue. The car left the traveling part of the roadway and almost struck a curb, then the driver overcorrected and crossed the double yellow lines on Mansfield. The officer stopped the vehicle on Mansfield Avenue near its intersection with Highland Avenue. When talking with the driver, the officer smelled an alcoholic drink coming from him.

What caught the eye of a Darien police officer when a 26-year-old driver got off the northbound lanes of I-95 at Exit 11, then crossed the road and entered the highway on-ramp at 2:39 a.m., Saturday, was that the man went through a red light, police said. According to the police account, which includes accusations not proven in court:

What caught the driver in a police stop was the officer seeing both that and the driver swerving in his lane when he got back on the highway. After stopping the red Ford pickup truck, the officer saw, smelled and heard indications the man had been drinking — seeing the driver’s red, glassy eyes, smelling alcohol coming from him and hearing his slurred words. When the driver, a Stamford resident, was given the chance to perform field sobriety tests, he didn’t do it to standard. He was arrested on a charge of driving while under the influence and charged with failure to obey a traffic signal, as well.

A 27-year-old driver was intoxicated at 2:48 a.m., Sunday when he swerved suddenly into different lanes and suddenly slowed from 80 mph to 45 in the northbound-traffic lanes near Exit 13 of Interstate 95, Darien police said. Police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

When a police officer, who saw how Rudis Interiano of Glenbrook Road in Stamford was driving, pulled over the vehicle on the Exit 13 ramp, the officer smelled an alcoholic beverage as he spoke with the driver. Asked to perform standard field sobriety tests, Interiano didn’t complete them in a satisfactory way and was charged with driving while under the influence and driving without a driver’s license. At Darien Police Headquarters, his breath was tested. The tests showed he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.1459 at 3:39 a.m., above the legal limit of 0.08, and 0.1390 at 3:58 a.m. He posted a $70 cash bond and was released.

An 18-year-old man driving with more than twice the legal limit for alcohol in his system struck a utility pole on West Avenue shortly before 9:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 21, police said. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

Jayden Rufus of Selby Place in Stamford was driving an Audi sedan on West Avenue near its intersection with Moore Street when his car struck the pole. When police arrived at the scene, the car was resting against the pole, and the vehicle’s engine compartment was engulfed in flames. A witness told police that the driver was standing nearby with a group that had gathered on Moore Street.

A 45-year-old man was driving erratically on the Post Road and was striking the curb, police were told, and when they stopped him, he had heroin and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle, police said. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

On Wednesday, Sept. 18, police received a report of a vehicle driving erratically on the Post Road in the area of that road’s intersections with Thorndal Circle and Hecker Avenue. Police were told that the car was striking the curb. Officers found the car on Renshaw Road near its intersection with the Post Road.

Darien police arrest photo James Hurty, 43, of the Post Road in Darien

A 43-year-old Darien man golfing at Wee Burn Country Club not only provided alcohol to two caddies, both under 21, but encouraged them to drink more by holding drinking games, police said. The man’s encouragement was “somewhat forceful” in the words of the Darien police announcement, which relied on the accounts of one or both of the caddies. Later that day, June 25, one of the caddies was arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated. Police provided this further information about the matter, including accusations not proven in court (all quotes are from the police announcement, not from witnesses):

Blaine Hurty, 43, of the Post Road, provided alcohol to the caddies “throughout the day,” according to the announcement. He not only encouraged them to drink, but he got so intoxicated that he himself could no longer play, and he let the caddies play, holding small contests for them, in which the loser was supposed to have “an entire alcohol drink.”

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.

« August 2022 »

An intoxicated teenager, driving at 6:28 p.m. Tuesday on Christie Hill Road, sideswiped an oncoming vehicle, then crashed into a stone wall but seemed barely injured, police said. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

Harrison Constantine, 19, was driving southwest on Christie Hill Road near the intersection of Top O-Hill Road when he crossed the double-yellow line, sideswiping the other vehicle. Constantine’s 2006 Honda Accord then drove off the right shoulder of the road and hit a rock wall. When police arrived at the scene, they saw him standing next to the car with a cut on his lip. He declined medical treatment.