Police after midnight on a recent Saturday found heroin on a 26-year-old New Canaan man who had fallen asleep at the wheel of a motor vehicle, officials said.
According to a press bulletin from Police Chief Leon Krolikowski, officers at about 12:10 a.m. on July 1 were called to Frogtown Road on a report that a motorist was asleep at the wheel in a driveway there.
Police searched the car and found “a quantity of heroin,” Krolikowski said.
The man, a Knapp Lane resident, was charged with possession of narcotics, a misdemeanor offense. Police released him on $250 bond and scheduled the man to appear July 14 in state Superior Court in Norwalk.
The arrest comes on the heels of recognition for seven members of the New Canaan Police Department who saved two people’s lives in town by administering Narcan and taking other life-saving measures following overdoses on heroin.
The town last September had its first reported death by heroin overdose—a 25-year-old man who had graduated New Canaan High School in 2009.
Police have found heroin on motorists in New Canaan on several occasions during routine traffic stops in town, including last May (also see here and here), and in 2015 arrested a 24-year-old River Street woman who twice sold heroin to an undercover officer.
After the town saw many young people from here die following heroin overdoses, a cross-community effort that includes the police as well as the school district, Department of Health & Human Services, nonprofit leaders and elected officials has made ridding New Canaan of illegal narcotics such as heroin a priority.
After a well-attended panel last year on opioid use in town, the League of Women Voters of New Canaan and New Canaan Department of Social Services co-sponsored a panel discussion in January designed to equip parents and families with practical tools for navigating years when young people are likely to experiment with substances.
If ever there was an ad for not using Heroin it would be this guy’s picture — this 26 yr old looks like 56