New Canaan Police on Feb. 12 arrested a 23-year-old Norwalk man by warrant in connection with a predawn drunk-driving incident last summer.
At about 3:16 a.m. on Aug. 24 (a Sunday), police were dispatched to Ponus Ridge south of the Merritt Parkway on a report of an unresponsive man behind the wheel of a car, according to an affidavit filed by Officer Giancarlo Vincenzi that forms the main part of an arrest warrant application signed by a state Superior Court judge.
Arriving, officers found a Chevy Equinox running while at rest in the middle of the northbound lane, according to the application, obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request.
The driver appeared to be asleep and police were unable to wake him up by banging on the window, Vincenzi said in the application.
Using a flashlight, the officer “observed vomit on the inside panel of the driver door and vomit stains” on the driver’s pants, the police affidavit said. The car was in drive with its doors locked, it said.
Police broke through the rear driver’s side window, unlocked the car, put the vehicle in park and turned it off, the application said.
Smelling alcohol on the driver’s breath, police “performed a sternum rub” on the driver and he “began to gain consciousness,” it said. His eyes were bloodshot.
Police asked the driver whether he’d been drinking “or if he had eaten anything that would have made him sick” but the man couldn’t answer their questions. Helped out of the car, the man was unsteady on his feet while walking to a New Canaan EMS ambulance bound for Norwalk Hospital.
Authorities obtained a search warrant for blood test results at the hospital and received them on Sept. 12, the arrest warrant application said.
According to a report from the EMS, the man “admitted to consuming three to four alcoholic beverages prior to the incident,” taking the last one about one hour before he was found asleep at the wheel, the application said. According to a hospital report, the man couldn’t remember the details of how he got there, stating that he had been in his car since about 1:30 a.m.—a full 2.5 hours before being admitted to the hospital. His blood-alcohol content level was .13, more than half again the legal limit.
The man turned himself in to New Canaan Police on the active warrant at about 1:15 p.m. on Feb. 12. He was released on $5,000 bond and scheduled to appear Feb. 27 in state Superior Court.