DUI 2019

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

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

Police: DUI for Man, 45, After He Hits Two Cars, Leaves Scene, Gets Followed by Witness

Police: DUI for Darien Man, 21, in Minor One-Car Accident on Mansfield Ave

Police: DUI for Man, 45, Crossing Into Oncoming Traffic Lanes on Post Road

Police: DUI for Woman, 51, Who Didn’t Realize What Town She Was Driving In

Police: DUI for Driver, Angry and Drunk, Harassing Another Motorist

Police: DUI for Man, 33, Driving 55 MPH on Hoyt Street at 9 PM in Car with Fresh Damage

Public Safety

By DARIENITE.COM | December 19, 2019

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | July 22, 2019

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | July 2, 2019

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | July 1, 2019

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | May 13, 2019

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | May 6, 2019

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | March 12, 2019

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | March 11, 2019

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | February 5, 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.

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.

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.

A 45-year-old man driving late in the afternoon on Old Kings Highway South was intoxicated when his motor vehicle left the roadway and struck two vehicles parked in a driveway, then left the scene, police said. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

Police received a call at 4:34 p.m. on Tuesday, June 25 about the accident in the area just west of the intersection of Old Kings Highway South and Andrews Drive. A witness had followed the driver, Avalos Hernandez, from the scene to the Darien North rest stop on Interstate 95, where a police officer spoke with Hernandez, who was standing next to a dark-colored 1997 Toyota 4Runner. The SUV was heavily damaged in the front of its right side, which was consistent with what police saw at the accident scene. When speaking with Hernandez, the officer could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from him.

A 21-year-old Darien man was intoxicated when he got into a minor one-car accident on Mansfield Avenue just before 1:20 a.m., Thursday, May 9, police said. Police described what happened with this account, which also includes accusations not proven in court:

After someone reported the accident to police, officers arrived at the scene and spoke with the driver, who was the only person in the car. Police determined that the driver didn’t need medical attention, but they also saw he was unsteady on his feet, and they could smell alcohol on him. The driver said he had just come from a local “establishment,” (police didn’t say which one or whether it was a bar or restaurant) where he had been drinking. The driver agreed to perform field sobriety tests but failed to perform them to an adequate standard, so he was charged with driving while under the influence and failure to stay on the right side of the road.

When the 45-year-old driver of a car on Hecker Avenue turned west onto the Post Road at about 12:30 a.m., Sunday, he drove into the eastbound traffic lanes several times, police said. The officer in the police car driving right behind him pulled over the driver and later arrested him on a charge of driving while under the influence. Police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

When an officer on patrol saw the car stopped underneath the flashing traffic light at about 12:37 a.m.. Although the car was stopped, wasn’t traffic that prevented the driver from turning. The officer, on Hecker Avenue less than a block from Police Headquarters, pulled up behind the car.

A 51-year-old woman charged with driving while under the influence was stopped by a police officer after the officer saw her swerving her car out of its lane several times and turning without using a blinker police said. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

At 12:33 a.m., Thursday, March 7, the officer, who was on the Post Road near Thorndal Circle, saw a black Mercedes sedan headed east on the Post Road, swerving out of its lane several times before it turned into a parking lot without using a blinker. When the officer spoke to the driver, a Fairfield resident, she said she was driving home from Stamford. Asked if she knew where she was, she said she believed she was in Fairfield. The officer smelled an alcoholic drink coming from her.

If you’ve got almost three times the legal limit for alcohol in your bloodstream, getting behind the wheel is a bad idea. Getting behind the wheel in that condition and then getting so angry at another driver that you follow her is a worse idea. Darien police say that’s what a 30-year-old man did early Sunday evening. Right up to the Darien Police Headquarters on Hecker Avenue, where the victim drove, police said. Here’s what else police said, including accusations not proven in court:

Police received a call from a woman who told them a red Toyota that had been following her, had been traveling extremely fast and almost struck her when she was parked in Rowayton, picking up her 11-year-old daughter.

« August 2022 »

An impaired man was behind the wheel of an impaired BMW speeding south on Hoyt Street just after 9 p.m. last Friday when, as it passed a patrol car, one of its headlights fell off, Darien police said. Police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

The dark-colored BMW was being driven by Robert Dockham, 33, of Woodway Road in Stamford when the police officer saw the headlight fall off the car onto the roadway. (Police didn’t say where on Hoyt Street the officer first found the vehicle or stopped it; Woodway Road intersects with Hoyt Street in Darien, just south of Woodway Country Club). As the officer followed the car, it reached speeds of 55 mph in a 30 mph zone. An officer on patrol observed a dark BMW traveling South on Hoyt St.