A 26-year-old man was intoxicated when he drove an SUV into a tree and a lamp post, which then caused a garbage can to be hurled into (and damage) the front window of a store on the Post Road, police said.
The man was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol and various other charges when he left the vehicle where it was crashed just outside Papa Joe's restaurant on the Post Road, near its intersection with Noroton Avenue, Darien police said.
Police gave this account (an accusation not proven in court) of the matter:
Elder Arias of Sylvandale Avenue in Stamford, was driving west on the Post Road when the accident occurred near Papa Joe's, at 1973 Post Rd. sometime before police found the vehicle at 4 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 8.
Although the 2004 Nissan Pathfinder was locked, the passenger-side window was open. In the glove compartment, police found two passports, one of which belonged to Arias, the other to Edlin Hernandez, 28, of the same address. He was a passenger in the vehicle, police later discovered.
Police were then on the lookout for Arias and Hernandez. Shortly after police found the vehicle, they found two men walking on the Post Road near Thorndale Circle. They identified them both by their passport picture. A Stamford police officer who could speak Spanish was called in and Arias was questioned.
He initially said that two black men forced him out of his car and drove off with it. He and his friend were about to contact a taxi, he said. But Arias' account was undermined when police found that the key to the vehicle was in his pocket -- and a spare key was in his wallet.
Hernandez told police he was asleep on the front passenger seat and didn't know whether or not he had been pushed out of the car by two black robbers.
A license plate had been removed from the vehicle. It was found near Thorndale Circle.
Arias had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, and he said he had been drinking beer earlier. He failed field sobriety tests.
Arias was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol, evading responsibility, driving without a license, failure to insure his motor vehicle and interfering with an officer. He was initially held on a $2,500 bond.
Hernandez was charged with interfering with an officer and initially held on $1,000 bond. Both men are scheduled to appear Sept. 18 in state Superior Court in Stamford.
A state bail commissioner was about to let Arias and Hernandez leave jail on a promise to appear in court, but Darien police contacted an official in the state's attorney's office in Stamford, and that office raised Arias' bail to $15,000. Hernandez' promise to appear was not changed, and he was allowed to leave.
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