Talking Transportation 2024
DWI Driving while intoxicated

Strategies for Traffic Safety: Congestion Pricing, Speed Cameras and More

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Stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic the other day on I-95 I grumbled to myself “Where is all this traffic coming from?” And then I remembered: If you’re stuck in traffic, you are the traffic! Guilty. But what’s being done to reduce all that traffic? Congestion Pricing Coming to NYC
In New York City they’re about to embark on a daring test: Congestion Pricing. Barring any last minute legal moves by opponents, it will soon cost $15 to drive your car into Manhattan below 60th street.

Public Safety
Steve Wilkos mug shot

TV Show Host Steve Wilkos Charged with DUI After Darien Crash

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Darien police charged television show host Steve Wilkos with driving while under the influence of alcohol after police said his blood-alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit when his SUV crashed on West Avenue on Jan. 21. Shortly after the accident, Wilkos told TMZ.com that he wasn’t wearing his glasses before the crash and was reaching for them when he hit a curb and struck utility poles and a tree, according to the celebrity news website. He told the website he wasn’t drinking or on illegal drugs and never takes either. Wilkos, 53, is a former Chicago police officer.

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Police Car

Police: DUI for Woman, 36, With More Than 4X Legal Alcohol Limit

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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.

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Darien Police Car Lights Police Lights

Police: DUI for Driver After Crash Into Utility Pole and Fence

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Police say that after a 58-year-old woman crashed through a fence on Raymond Street and her vehicle’s air bag deployed, she insisted she was fine and just wanted to go home. But police made other plans, and she eventually was charged with driving while under the influence. Darien police gave this account (consisting of accusations not proven in court) of the matter:

The driver, a Norwalk resident, eventually told police after her arrest that she had been drinking three or four mojitos at a friend’s home in Stamford. At 6:55 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 24, police were called to the scene of a one-vehicle accident on Raymond Avenue near its intersection with Musket Lane.

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Darien Police SUV on Road

Police: Sobriety Tests and Walking Did Not Put Unsteady Arrestee in Danger

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Darien police were able to keep a man safe just before they arrested him Nov. 24 on a DUI charge, despite the man repeatedly losing his balance while he was in their care, a spokesman for the Police Department said. 

“To my knowledge the Department has no reason whatsoever to believe anything other than that the involved officers acted professionally while keeping in mind the safety of everyone involved,” said Sgt. Jeremiah Marron, a Police Department spokesman. Marron said that police are trained to keep intoxicated people from falling when they’re unsteady on their feet during DUI field sobriety tests. The spokesman also said that at another point, when the man started walking diagonally toward traffic, there was no indication in the report that he came close to walking into an oncoming vehicle.

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Darien Police Car Lights Police Lights

Police Say DUI Arrestee Nearly Fell Twice, Then They Had Him Perform Standing Sobriety Test

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An 8:51 a.m. call to Darien police about a disabled car creating a traffic hazard on a roadway led to a charge of driving while under the influence for a 52-year-old town resident. According to police: When they arrived at the scene, after the driver twice lost his balance (and was twice assisted by police officers to keep him from falling down), he was still asked to perform a field sobriety test. The second time he lost his balance he began walking toward oncoming traffic. In the third part of these tests, the driver is told to stand on one leg. At that point, he lost his balance for the third time, and a police officer rushed in to keep him from falling. Darien police described the incident further with this account (including accusations not proven in court):

When police arrived at Mansfield Avenue near its intersection with Tower Drive on Tuesday, Nov.

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Darien Police Logo Police Car

DUI Charge for Darien Man, 48, After Fence, Street Sign Hit

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After a resident’s fence and a town street sign were hit by a vehicle Saturday, patrol officers followed a trail of oil to a parked Jeep Grand Cherokee and arrested a 48-year-old man for driving while under the influence of alcohol, police said. Darien police described the incident with this account (which includes accusations not proven in court):

A Maple Street resident who lives near the intersection of Maple Street and Relihan Road told police that when his fence was heavily damaged, he saw a vehicle headed toward nearby Dubois Street. After seeing the damage to the fence, a patrol officer found what appeared to be a piece of the vehicle. Then the officer followed line of oil on the roadway, passing a stop sign that was knocked off its pole. Another officer who followed the trail of oil traced it to a driveway on Dubois Street.

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Cops: Wife & Kids on the Road at 3 AM to Pick Up DUI Arrestee

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A 56-year-old man, later charged with driving while under the influence, hit a tree on Mansfield Avenue sometime before 3 a.m., receiving minor injuries, police said. Then (apparently after she received his phone call) his wife drove from Weston to Darien find him, with their small children in the car, police said. The man later told police he hid from them when they arrived at the scene, according to police. In a further complication, the incident occurred in June. Since the man, Donald Robinson Jr., went to a hospital, Darien police had to get a search warrant for his blood sample and then an arrest warrant.

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Darien Police SUV on Road

Police: DUI Charge for 56-Year-Old Man as He Gets on I-95

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While the 56-year-old driver of a 2010 Porsche Cayenne was still on the on-ramp from Ledge Road to Interstate 95, he was going 65 mph and had more than double the legal alcohol limit in his blood, according to police. Darien police described the incident with this account (containing accusations not proven in court):

A police officer saw Andrew Fisch of Highland Avenue in Norwalk cross the double yellow line on the Post Road twice as he drove west toward Ledge Road at 1:09 p.m.

The officer activated his vehicle’s emergency lights and followed the car onto the highway. Fisch stopped at the Interstate 95 South rest stop. He told the officer he was going home after having a few drinks at a bar. His eyes were glassy and bloodshot, and the officer smelled a strong odor of alcohol coming from Fisch’s car as he talked with the driver and after Fisch was told to get out of the car, the officer smelled alcohol on his breath.

Public Safety
Jaroslav Judak

Police: Accident with Injury, DUI for Driver with 3X Alcohol Limit

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A three-vehicle accident that resulted in an injury for one Darien man was caused by an intoxicated driver who had more than three times the legal amount of alcohol in his blood, Darien police said. The 53-year-old driver was charged with driving while under the influence after Darien police used a search warrant to get the driver’s hospital records and then arrested him on a warrant after the Sept. 21 accident. The driver was previously charged with driving while under the influence in 2011 in Stamford. Darien police described the case in this account (containing accusations not proven in court):

Jaroslav Judak was driving a Chevrolet Explorer van south on Hollow Tree Ridge Road around 4 p.m. that day, a Monday, when he made a left turn onto Heights Road — but continued turning left too far and crossed the double yellow lines on Heights.

Public Safety
Thomas Lindsey

Cops: DUI Charge After 54-MPH Chase on Old Kings Highway South

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A police officer had to speed as high as 54 mph on Old Kings Highway South at about 1:43 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1 to catch up to a Darien driver who had sped off after the officer stopped his car on the road, police said. When the officer caught up with the 46-year-old man in the driveway of his home, the man was charged with driving while under the influence, police said. Darien police described the incident with this account (consisting of accusations not proven in court):

Thomas Lindsey of McCray Lane was operating a black Mercedes CLK350 convertible when the officer saw the car drive out of a private driveway leading to an undeveloped tract of land at 6 Locust Hill Drive at about 1:43 a.m.

The car turned west onto Old Kings Highway South as the officer was driving east on the same road and saw that the car’s high beams were on, and the driver failed to dim them as the patrol car approached. The officer turned around his patrol car and followed the Mercedes, which sped up.

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Darien Police Car Lights Police Lights

Police: Man, 48, Charged with DUI After Erratic Driving

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A man driving a blue pickup truck at about 9:40 p.m. on Thursday was intoxicated when he drove briefly in the opposite lane on West Avenue, police said. A breath test later showed the man had almost twice the legal blood-alcohol limit for driving, and he eventually admitted to drinking eight beers that day, according to police. Darien police gave this account (including accusations not proven in court):

Police received a call at 9:40 p.m. that a blue pickup truck with a lawnmower in the back was being driven erraticly and had almost hit another vehicle in the parking lot at Avalon Darien, 137 Hollow Tree Ridge Road. A police officer who went to the area saw the blue 2001 Dodge pickup truck near the Avalon entrance and driving north on Hollow Tree Ridge Road. The truck then turned left onto West Avenue with no turn signal and drove a short distance west in the eastbound-traffic lane before moving into the proper lane.

Public Safety
Darien Police Car Lights Police Lights

Cops: He Was Asleep at the Wheel on the Post Rd, Car Running, in Gear, Foot on the Brake

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Police say they had to tap on the car window at 1 a.m. Friday to awaken a driver who’s car was stopped — but running, and in gear — on the Post Road near Ledge Road. The man was charged with driving while under the influence. Darien police gave this further account (with accusations not proven in court) of the matter:

Police smelled a strong odor of alcohol inside the vehicle, a 2009 Volkswagen Jetta, and on the driver, Manuel Molina, a 27-year-old Bridgeport man. He did not pass field sobriety tests and couldn’t show police any registration or insurance documents for the vehicle. A computer check showed the vehicle’s registration had been suspended, and a breath check of Molina’s blood at Police Headquarters showed it was over the 0.08 limit — 0.1484 at 2:19 a.m. and 0.1411 at 2:39 a.m.

Molina, of Black Rock Avenue in Bridgeport, was charged with driving while under the influence and driving with a vehicle with suspended registration.

Public Safety
Darien Police SUV Pointed Right

Cops: Police Supervisor Injured After DUI Driver Hits Patrol Car

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Darien police Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson, a patrol shift supervisor driving a police cruiser late at night this weekend, received minor injuries when he was hit by a man who was driving while intoxicated, police said. Johnson was taken to Stamford Hospital, where doctors looked at injuries to his lower back and ankle, then released. Police gave this account (including accusations not proven in court) of the matter:

At 3:53 a.m. Sunday, Johnson reported the incident on Old Kings Highway South just east of Queens Lane. Johnson, in a  had been driving a 2015 Ford Explorer SUV west on Old Kings Highway South when a 1999 Saturn driving west in the eastbound-traffic lane collided with the police vehicle.

Public Safety
Darien Police Car

Man, 49, Charged with DUI After Accident on Exit 10 Ramp to Ledge Rd

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A 49-year-old man driving a pickup truck was intoxicated on Friday when he hit a car on the southbound Exit 10 ramp to Ledge Road, Darien police said. Police gave this account (an accusation not proven in court):

At 6:11 p.m., police were called to the exit ramp on a report from a driver that his car had been hit by a pickup truck, which drove off west on Ledge Road. While a police officer was talking to the driver of the car, a 33-year-old Darien man, a passer-by stopped and told the officer that a pickup truck with heavy front-end damage was parked at Jake’s Place, a diner at the corner of Ledge Road and Noroton Avenue. Police located the pickup, a 2006 Chevrolet Silverado and spoke to the driver, a Norwalk man, who admitted he was involved in the accident. An officer smelled alcohol on the man, who could not pass field sobriety tests.