Darien Woman, 18, Charged with DUI After Rollover

A teenager who rolled her Volkswagen Jetta onto its roof on the Post Road last July was driving while under the influence of alcohol, said police, who arrested her Sept. 10 on a warrant.

Darien police gave this account of the incident, investigation and arrest:

At about 7:20 p.m. on July 8, a Saturday, Caitlin D. Marino, 18, of Buttonwood Lane, was at the intersection of Dubois Street and the Post Road.

Westbound traffic was stopped on the Post Road, but drivers had allowed a gap for her and possibly other cars to get through to go into the eastbound lanes. She turned left to go eastbound on the Post Road when the accident occurred.

Instead of simply turning into the eastbound lanes, she appeared to get very close to the opposite curb, then turned sharply left, hitting the front passenger-side of a car on the Post Road that was stopped in westbound traffic.

(The passenger side of the car that was hit would have been on the opposite side of the curb that Marino was trying to avoid, but this was the account given in the arrest warrant affidavit, according to a police spokesman, who reviewed the statement twice.)

Blood-alcohol level

Marino told police that she remembered turning left onto the Post Road, but didn't remember what happened next. She was taken to Norwalk Hospital after the accident. Information on her condition was not available.

Using a search warrant, police later received information from hospital records on her blood-alcohol level. Her blood-alcohol content was 0.111 percent. For adults over the age of 21, a blood-alcohol count of 0.08 percent is enough for a charge of driving while under the influence of alcohol.

For those under the age of 21, who are not allowed to purchase alcohol, anything over 0.02 percent is enough evidence for a charge of operating a motor vehicle as a "minor" with an elevated blood-alcohol level. Police charged her with that, as well as with failure to drive right.

Police applied for and received an arrest warrant for Marino, who turned herself in at police headquarters on Monday, Sept. 10, and posted $250 bond. She is scheduled to appear Sept. 26 in state Superior Court in Stamford.