Police on Friday night arrested a 51-year-old Stamford man on a drunk driving charge and found a loaded handgun in his pocket after he denied carrying any weapons.
A Walther PPK handgun. By Jaikuma – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26529703
At about 9:18 p.m. on April 7, an officer on patrol spotted a vehicle traveling southbound on Old Stamford Road in the northbound lane, according to a police report.
During a subsequent stop, the officer smelled the odor of alcohol on the driver’s breath, the report said.
The motorist failed field sobriety tests, it said. While administering those tests, the officer noticed that the man was not cooperating with instructions and was putting his hand in his pockets, the report said.
The officer asked whether the man had any weapons and the man responded no, but during a subsequent pat down he found a loaded Walther PPKS handgun in a holster in his left jacket pocket, it said.
The man had a valid permit for it, the report said.
He declined to undergo a test for blood-alcohol content, it said.
Police charged him with carrying a firearm while under the influence of alcohol or drugs—a recently updated state law and misdemeanor offense—as well as driving under the influence. He additionally was cited for failure to drive right.
Police released the man on $3,250 bond and scheduled him to appear April 20 in state Superior Court in Norwalk.