DUI 2016

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

DUI Arrest for Woman, 59, After Two-Car Crash on Middlesex Road

Midnight DUI for Woman, 55, on Tokeneke Road

Police: Woman, 33, Charged with DUI After Minor Downtown Traffic Accident

Police: DUI Arrest for 18-Year-Old Driving Freshly Damaged Mercedes

Police: Second DUI for Man Arrested 2 AM Friday on Post Road

Police: DUI Charge for Man, 22, After Car Snaps Utility Pole & Rolls Over on High School Lane

DUI Charge for Man, 55, After Three-Car Accident on Hollow Tree Ridge Road

Police: DUI Charge for Woman Driving Over 3X Alcohol Limit in Tokeneke

Police: A New Industry Cuts Down on DUI in Darien

DUI Charge for Woman, 44, After Two-Vehicle Accident on Post Road

Crashing the Car Was Only the Beginning of This Man’s Troubles

Police: DUI for Driver Speeding at 71 MPH Down Post Road Around 6 PM

Police: DUI Charge for Man, 59, Speeding at 53 MPH on Post Rd

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | November 21, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | October 3, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | September 8, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | August 8, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | July 19, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | June 20, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | June 15, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | June 6, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | April 25, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | April 8, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | March 2, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | February 9, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | January 25, 2016

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | January 8, 2016

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.

Darien police this weekend arrested a 59-year-old woman on a warrant after an August car accident that sent both drivers to the hospital. Police described the events with this account (including accusations not proven in court):

At about 9:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 15, the woman was driving a 2005 Mercury Sable east on Middlesex Road near its intersection with Laurel Lane when she went into the opposite traffic lane just as a 20-year-old Darien man, driving west, was headed toward her. The Darien man, in a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu, swerved into the opposite lane to avoid the oncoming car, but his vehicle was hit. It was damaged heavily on its right (passenger) side and in the rear.

Just as a 55-year-old woman got off the Exit 12 ramp on Tokeneke Road, a police officer saw her car swerve in its lane and cross the double yellow line, an observation that led to an arrest for driving while under the influence, police said. Darien police described the incident and arrest with this account (including accusations not proven in court):

At 12:19 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 3, Jeannette Bernhard of Bridgeport, took a left turn off of the exit ramp onto Tokeneke Road. A police officer was headed in the same direction and saw her driving the 2014 Toyota sedan as it traveled west on the street. The officer followed the car on the Post Road west to the intersection with Mansfield Avenue and pulled it over near there.

A 33-year-old woman driving east on the Post Road hit another car, causing a minor accident, but a police officer who showed up noticed the woman smelled of alcohol and had difficulty standing, police said. That led to a driving while under the influence charge for the woman after the 12:30 p.m. accident on Monday, Aug. 1. Darien police described the incident and arrest with this account (with accusations not proven in court):

Near the intersection of Leroy Avenue 2008 Mercedes e350 as the driver of that car was waiting for traffic to turn left onto Leroy Avenue, the car was hit from behind by the 33-year-old Norwalk woman behind the wheel of a 2009 Honda Civic. A police officer called to the scene directed both drivers to move their cars out of the intersection, to get out of the way of heavy traffic.

Glassy-eyed, smelling of alcohol and driving through downtown past midnight with a damaged tail light, an 18-year-old was charged last Tuesday with driving while under the influence, police said. Darien police described the incident and arrest with this account (including accusations not proven in court):

At about 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 12, a police officer on patrol noticed that the left rear tail light was not working on a car traveling at a high rate of speed east on the Post Road downtown. The officer turned the patrol car around and followed. The patrol car started following the car, a white 1997 Mercedes Benz C-280. The Mercedes abruptly slowed down and turned into an office parking lot at 1500 Post Road (across the street from Spring Grove Cemetery).

A 30-year-old man who had been arrested on a charge of driving while under the influence in New York state was arrested for DUI after 2 a.m. Friday on the Post Road, Darien police said. Police described the matter with this account (including accusations not proven in court):

At about 2 a.m., Timothy Stillwell drove into Darien from Norwalk on the Post Road when a police officer saw the man’s blue Toyota with New York license plates pass by. The car seemed to have a flat right front tire, and Stillwell soon pulled into a parking lot at 151 Post Road. The officer followed to see if the driver needed help. When the officer approached, Stillwell was walking around the parking lot as he talked into his phone.

A 22-year-old man with more than twice the legal limit for alcohol in his blood drove his car off the road near Darien High School, tore up 50 feet of grass, hit and snapped a utility pole and caused his car to roll over, Darien police said. The man was taken to Stamford Hospital with numerous minor injuries on the night of the accident, Monday, April 4. He was arrested June 6, two months after the incident, possibly because getting arrest warrants approved by state prosecutors and judges has become glacially slow after state budget cutbacks. The delay may also have resulted from police needing to execute a search warrant (signed by a judge on April 27) for the hospital to turn over blood test information, which showed his blood-alcohol content was 0.18, over twice the 0.08 legal limit, according to police. Darien police described the incident with this account (which includes accusations not proven in court):

Police were called to High School Lane at 11:41 p..m.

A 55-year-old man driving at twice the legal blood-alcohol limit crashed into two other vehicles on Hollow Tree Ridge Road, near Red Cedar Drive, Darien police said. Police described the events with this account (including accusations not proven in court):

Shortly before 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, George Collazo, a resident of Wright Street in Stamford, was driving a gold 2000 Acura north on Hollow Tree Ridge Road when his vehicle veered into the southbound-traffic lane and sideswiped a car coming from the opposite direction. That vehicle was driven by a 54-year-old Trumbull man. ___________

— See also: After Car Accident, Teen Charged with Possessing Pot with Intent to Sell

___________

Collazo’s car then returned to the right lane and hit a vehicle pulling out of Red Cedar Drive. That vehicle was driven by a 44-year-old woman.

A 23-year-old woman driving intoxicated nearly hit a pedestrian on Searles Road last Tuesday, a Tokeneke constable had to drive off the road into a driveway to avoid being hit by the same vehicle, Darien police said. The same vehicle was reported to have struck another vehicle twice in the Center Street parking lot that same day, police said, and a breathalyzer test later showed the woman’s blood-alcohol content at more than three times the legal limit, according to police. Darien police described the events with this account (including information not proven in court):

At about 6:30 p.m. a constable patroling on Tokeneke Trail saw a black SUV driving at a high rate of speed on Cross Road. The constable tried to follow the SUV, but it was going too fast and the constable failed to catch up to it and lost sight of it on Cross Road near Searles Road. The constable turned onto Searles Road, where a pedestrian flagged him down with flailing arms and said she had been nearly hit by a black Ford SUV driving south on Searles.

Darien police have noticed that there have been fewer arrests for intoxicated driving recently, and they think they know why. It involves something else they’ve seen in recent months — many more Uber drivers (or drivers from similar services) picking up tipsy passengers late at night from bars and restaurants. “Our DWI [driving while intoxicated] arrests are actually down a little bit, and the reason why I think we see that […] is the Uber drivers are doing a booming business in Darien” Police Capt. Don Anderson said at the April 5 quarterly town department heads meeting with the Board of Selectmen. “Downtown weekend nights, we actually almost have an Uber parking lot where people are trying to park as close as they can to our local nightlife restaurants to pick up fares,” Anderson said. He continued:

“I think people are being very responsible.

A 44-year-old woman was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol after she caused a minor motor vehicle accident last Wednesday on the Post Road, police said. Darien police described the incident with this account (including accusations not proven in court):

The woman, a Stamford resident, was driving east on the Post Road just before 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 20, when her Nissan Rogue rear-ended another SUV, a Chevrolet Equinox, near the intersection with West Norwalk Road. No injuries resulted. The Rogue suffered front-end damage; the Equinox, rear-end; damage to both vehicles was minor.

According to police, a 33-year-old Stratford man at about 3 p.m. on Dec. 13:

— was driving erratically on Mansfield Avenue,
— while he was intoxicated, and
— crashed a car belonging to his brother,
— left the accident scene (where the car started burning and was destroyed), and then
— went into a nearby house through an open garage, then was told to leave by the homeowner. Police said the family of the man told them that he has an emotional health condition. No injuries resulted from the incident. Darien police described the incident with this account (with accusations not proven in court):

Just before the accident, two witnesses told police that the man was driving erratically on Mansfield Avenue, traveling north.

A 42-year-old man was charged with driving under the influence after a police officer driving behind him paced the man’s car at 71 mph on the Post Road near Hecker Avenue at 5:41 p.m., Sunday, police said. Police described the incident with this account (with accusations not proven in court):

The officer saw a dark-colored 2000 Subaru Legacy traveling west on the Post Road near Rings End Road at what seemed like a high rate of speed. The officer followed the car and paced it for a short distance (that is, the patrol car maintained the same distance and the officer looked at the speedometer). The car was speeding at 71 mph at least at one point. The speed limit in that area is clearly marked as 35 mph.

« August 2022 »

Shortly before 2 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 28, a police officer watching traffic on the Post Road clocked a car at 53 mph, driven by an intoxicated man who failed to stop for a red light before he turned onto a side street, police said.

Darien police gave this further account (with accusations not proven in court):

The officer was parked at the intersection of Purdy Lane and the Post Road when he saw the 2000 gray Honda Civic traveling west toward Stamford. The speed limit for the Post Road there is 35 mph. The car drove into Stamford with the police officer in pursuit. The Honda didn’t stop for a red light before turning from Route 1 (which is East Main Street in Stamford) onto Hamilton Avenue or Brookside Drive in Stamford (maps differ over whether Brookside in Stamford extends to Route 1; the driver may have traveled north a bit on Hamilton Avenue and then turned right onto nearby Brookside Drive).