Drinking in Darien 2017

Police: DUI, Drug Charges for Man Found Driving, Drinking and With Cocaine

Police: DUI for Darien Man After Crash Sends Three to Hospital

Darien High School Fighting Substance Abuse in a New Way: With Student/Parent Info Sessions on the Dangers

Op Ed: Community Fund of Darien’s Teen Binge Drinking Campaign Gets National Recognition

Third Arrest for Yarish in Ongoing Investigation into Sales of Pot, Booze and Tobacco to Minors

Police: Darien Man, 51, Made a Business Out of Providing Alcohol to Teenagers

Police: More Underage Drinking Parties This Time of Year — and Here’s What Police Do When They Find Them

Police: DUI for Woman, 48, After 1 AM Arrest on Tokeneke Road

Police: DUI for Darien Man After Traffic Violations on Tokeneke Road

Mother of Teen Charged with Failing to Halt Alcohol Possession at Daughter’s 18th Birthday Party

Police: DUI for Vespa Rider, 34, Already Wanted on DUI Charge in Florida

Police: DUI for Man, 28, with Expired Registration, Illegal Drug Under Seat

Police: DUI Charge for Darien Man, 35, Speeding Over 90 MPH on Highway

Mother and Daughter Charged After Police Go to Under-Age Party with Alcohol

Police: Man Was Intoxicated, Driving and Tussling With the Guy His Ex-Girlfriend Was With

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | December 11, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | October 2, 2017

Education

By David Gurliacci | September 30, 2017

Healthy Living

By David Gurliacci | September 29, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | September 8, 2017

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By David Gurliacci | July 24, 2017

Public Safety

By Alex Wang | July 12, 2017

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By David Gurliacci | July 6, 2017

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By David Gurliacci | July 3, 2017

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By David Gurliacci | June 29, 2017

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By David Gurliacci | June 27, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | June 26, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | June 26, 2017

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | June 19, 2017

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

A 26-year-old man driving downtown around 1 a.m. Saturday was stopped by police for a traffic violation, then they found he was intoxicated and had cocaine, police said. Darien police gave this account of what happened, including accusations not proven in court:

At about 1:06 a.m., Nicolas Panagiotopoulos of Glenbrook Road in Stamford was driving west (toward Stamford) on the Post Road. He didn’t stop for the traffic light, then flashing red, at the intersection of the road with the exit ramp for Interstate 95 North (near the car dealership). A police officer saw the gray 2016 Volkswagen Jetta go through the traffic light at what the officer thought was a high rate of speed and stopped the car. When Panagiotopoulos told the officer that he was coming from a Norwalk restaurant, the officer could see that the driver’s eyes were glassy and bloodshot, and the officer could smell the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from inside the car.

A 38-year-old Darien man was charged with driving while under the influence after his car crossed over into the opposite lane and hit a compact SUV. The crash sent three occupants of that vehicle, including a 10-year-old, to the hospital. The arrested man had in his blood between three and four times the legal amount of alcohol for a driver when he was given a breath test more than an hour after the accident was reported, according to police. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

Shortly before 5:23 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 25 (when the incident was reported to police), Michael Sheppeard, 38, of Stanton Road was driving a tan 2008 Ford Expedition on Old Kings Highway South.

All but 226 Darien High School students (less than one in seven) has participated in a presentation in which a Silver Hill Hospital, a lawyer and police officers talk about the problems teens have when they take alcohol, marijuana or other illegal drugs or alcohol. The students must attend the 90-minute session with a parent or guardian. Both student and adult must attend in order for the student to participate in sports or other extra-curricular activities. Schools Superintendent Dan Brenner reported the attendance information to the Board of Education on Tuesday. The sessions began over the summer, and the last one (until winter) was held Sept.

This opinion piece/announcement is by Carrie Bernier, executive director of the Community Fund of Darien:

The Community Fund’s Thriving Youth Task Force has set its sights on reducing teenage binge drinking in Darien. When they launched the “Our Darien 06820” campaign last winter, they hoped to hit a nerve locally with parents and teens. They didn’t suspect that it would strike a chord nationally, too. Emily Larkin, The Community Fund of Darien’s Thriving Youth director, recently returned from California after presenting Darien’s innovative “06820” campaign to a national audience of substance abuse professionals.

Darien’s binge drinking prevention campaign is the product of a collaboration between The Community Fund of Darien, the Thriving Youth Task Force and the creative team at Colangelo Synergy Marketing.

An ongoing investigation into alleged selling of drugs and alcohol to underage youth by Mark Yarish, 51, of Cherry Street has resulted in a third arrest of Yarish and six more felony charges against him, Darien police said. Police also said that the latest charges involve sales of “marijuana, alcohol and an assortment of tobacco products to Darien juveniles as young as 12 years old.” Yarish was in the business of selling illicit substances to juveniles on an “almost daily basis” since last December, according to police. He communicated with the teenagers with texts and phone calls, then he would deliver items at a substantial markup over his cost, police said. Yarish has been arrested twice before (on July 24 and Sept.

Reports that a man repeatedly was providing alcohol to teenagers led police to put a Darien man under surveillance — where they found evidence he was taking orders for booze and delivering it at a hefty markup, police said. Darien police gave this account of the matter, including accusations not proven in court:

For the past several months, police had been hearing about a local man providing the booze. Police found evidence the man, Mark Yarish, 51, of 20 Cherry St., was taking orders by text message and phone call, buying it at local stores, then delivering it to Darien teenagers. Two months ago, Police started an investigation and put Yarish under surveillance. They applied for and were granted an arrest warrant for Yarish, and on Friday, July 21, police went to his home and arrested him.

Police Chief Ray Osborne explained at a recent Police Commission meeting what cops do when they find underage parties with alcohol, and he talked about the legal consequences both parents and teenagers may face. “Right now, we’re getting hit pretty hard with underage drinking,” Detective James Palmieri of the Youth Bureau told the commission. Summers generally have more frequent underage drinking incidents, he said. Following a call reporting an underage drinking party from a tip line that notifies law enforcement to suspicious or illegal activity, a supervisor and officers are dispatched to the scene, he said at the July 5 commission meeting. The tip line has become a valuable tool for police, he said.

After a police officer saw a sport utility vehicle cross over the double yellow line on Tokeneke Road at about 1 a.m., the 48-year-old woman behind the wheel was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol, police said. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

At about 1 a.m. on Monday, June 26, the officer, who was watching traffic, saw the vehicle, a green 2016 Subaru Forester headed in the direction of Norwalk. After seeing it cross over the yellow lines, the officer pulled over the SUV near Five Mile River Road. The driver told the officer that she was coming from Ernie’s bar in downtown Darien. She was given field sobriety tests, which she failed, and she was charged with driving while under the influence and failure to stay on the right side of the road.

A Darien man who failed to stop for a stop sign, then drove over the double yellow line on Tokeneke Road at 2:28 a.m. on Sunday was found to have been drinking and was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol, police said. Police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

A police officer saw a gray 1998 Honda Accord leave the Interstate 95 Exit 12 ramp and turn right onto Tokeneke Road without stopping for the stop sign. The car crossed over the double yellow line, into the oncoming traffic lane, and the officer had the vehicle stop near the intersection of Tokeneke Road and Driftwood Lane. __________

See also: Mother of Teen Charged with Failing to Halt Alcohol Possession at Daughter’s 18th Birthday Party (July 3)

__________

The officer noticed the smell of alcohol on the breath of the 44-year-old driver. The man told the officer that all he had to drink that night was a single Heineken beer.

A Mansfield Avenue woman, 50, was charged with a misdemeanor by Darien police, who determined she knew or should have known that alcohol was being served at her daughter’s 18th birthday party. Police described the Tuesday, June 27 incident with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

Police went to 328 Mansfield Ave. at about 10:28 p.m., after receiving a message on the department’s anonymous tip line about a teen party with alcohol. When they went to the scene, they saw cars from several taxi services pulling up to the driveway. Police also saw five youths running away and two others, a male and a female, starting to walk away on Mansfield Avenue.

A police officer saw a man on a black 2015 Vespa scooter fail to stop for a red light, and then another red light, then swerve toward oncoming traffic twice at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday in downtown Darien, police said. The rider not only was intoxicated, police said: He was also wanted by police in Florida on charges of violating probation and driving while under the influence — and the police there wanted to extradite him. Police described the incident with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

The officer saw the scooter fail to stop for lights on the Post Road at its intersections with Tokeneke Road and Center Street. The Vespa was stopped at the intersection of the Post Road and Duffy’s Lane, about a mile and a half to the west. The officer saw the driver, 37-year-old Julian Santa of Norwalk, wasn’t wearing eye protection, as the law requires.

A 28-year-old driver was charged with driving while under the influence after he was stopped shortly after 2 a.m. when police saw that his license registration had expired, Darien police said. Police also said the man had PCP under the front passenger seat. Darien police described what happened with this account (including accusations not proven in court):

A police officer saw a blue 2000 Ford Excursion on Old Kings Highway South at about 2:11 a.m. on Tuesday, June 20. The license of the SUV had expired in September 2015. The Excursion got onto the northbound-traffic lanes of Interstate 95, and the officer stopped the vehicle at the Darien North rest stop.

When a 35-year-old Darien man later charged with driving while under the influence turned onto the Interstate 95 on ramp from Tokeneke Road, he

didn’t use his turn signal,
drove over the white fog line,
swerved between lanes and
sped faster than 90 mph on the highway,

according to police. Here’s the rest of the account (which includes accusations not proven in court) that Darien police gave describing the incident:

At about 12:46 a.m., a police officer saw a white 2016 Mazda CX traveling east on Tokeneke Road turn without signaling onto the I-95 on ramp. The car turned so fast onto the entrance ramp that it shifted left and passed over the white fog line for a while, before the driver corrected and got back into the lane. The driver sped faster than 90 mph and swerved between lanes before taking Exit 10, where the officer had it stop. The driver smelled of an alcoholic beverage, and his bloodshot eyes were glassy.

Darien police say that when they arrived at a teenager’s party where alcohol was consumed, partygoers told police that they had brought alcohol themselves and the host hadn’t provided it. The partygoers, all young women, even showed police text messages — but in one of the messages said the host’s mother was fine with having alcohol at the party, according to police. Police gave this additional information about the incident, including accusations not proven in court:

At about 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 25, an anonymous tip alerted police to a party at 17 Goodwives River Road. When police showed up there, they found alcohol and 13 females, ranging in age from 17 to 19. The host, Alexandra Barnard, who turned 19 that day, at first told police that she had supplied the alcohol, but then retracted that and said the partygoers had each brought their own booze.

« August 2022 »

On Monday afternoon, June 12, according to Darien police, a 33-year-old man was intoxicated at 3:55 p.m., was driving in town and had gotten into a tussle with a man going out with his ex-girlfriend — and took that man’s eyeglasses. Here’s how Darien police described the situation, including accusations not proven in court:

Police were dispatched to the Darien Railroad Station on the report of an altercation. There they met the victim, who told them he came to Darien to return the driver’s license of a woman he was with the night before. While at the train station, the woman’s ex-boyfriend confronted him, and when the two were walking, the ex-boyfriend, a Stamford resident, struck the victim in the head, knocking his eyeglasses off. The Stamford man picked up the glasses, got into a black Audi and drove off.