MONROE, CT — A 31-year-old Pastors Walk man pulled over for allegedly driving his gray 2019 Ram 1500 pickup truck erratically Wednesday night, kept apologizing to officers, saying he has allergies, while holding up a strip of Zyrtec pills, according to police.
He reportedly denied drinking several times, but officers smelled the odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from him, police said.
A large bottle of gin on the floor behind the driver’s seat was half full, police said, adding officers also found two small, half full nip bottles of Yukon Jack and an empty blackberry brandy nip bottle in the center console of the vehicle.
A coffee mug containing a gin and tonic was found in the center cupholder, according to the report.
Field sobriety tests were not performed to standard, leading to the man’s arrest for DUI and failure to maintain the proper lane. He was released on $500 bond for a June 20 court date.
At the police station breath tests taken 20 minutes apart showed blood alcohol levels of 0.117 and 0.113, police said. The legal limit in Connecticut is 0.08.
At 7:55 p.m., police had received an anonymous complaint from a driver behind the pickup truck on Main Street, alleging it was all over the road. Officers located the truck at the intersection of routes 25 and 59, followed it and saw it cross over the fog line several times before initiating a traffic stop, police said.
Reckless endangerment
A 26-year-old Monroe man allegedly drove his 2011 Ford F-350 toward his wife’s 2012 GMC Terrain on Hammertown Road while she took her two children to daycare Thursday morning, before crossing the double yellow line, making her swerve to avoid a collision.
Police said he turned around and allegedly began to tailgate her so closely she feared he would rear end her vehicle if she braked. The woman then claims he drove alongside her vehicle and intentionally struck the front left corner, while the children were in the back seat.
He stopped his truck in front of her vehicle and approached her window, according to the complaint, so she kept the doors locked and the windows up.
She told her husband to leave her alone and that she had to get to work. He said he would meet her at the daycare, but she immediately went to the Monroe Police Department and he followed her, the report said.
Police said he left the parking lot while his wife gave a formal statement. Police said the victim’s GMC Terrain had fresh damage to front left fender, consistent with her account of the incident.
An officer later called the man and told him he should come in.
He was charged with three counts of reckless endangerment in the second-degree and two counts of risk of injury to a child, before being released on $5,000 bond for a June 9 court date.
Evading leads to warrant arrest
Police held a 39-year-old Shelton man on a Hamden police warrant charging him with breach of peace and third-degree assault, following a minor motor vehicle accident in Monroe.
At approximately 7:14 a.m. on Monday, police received a complaint of an erratic driver in a 2013 Honda Accord, who allegedly drove off the road to the right on Route 110, heading into Monroe, and struck a wire guardrail, just east of Barn Hill Road.
The anonymous caller got a description of the vehicle and the license plate, while following behind the Honda, police said, adding officers stopped the vehicle in the 500-block of Monroe Turnpike.
The driver told officers he was late for work because he took a sleep aid and didn’t realize it was a 12-hour medication, police said. The driver said that is why he had the accident and he did not know he had to report it, according to the report.
He was issued a misdemeanor summons for evading responsibility and failure to drive in the established lane, before Hamden police picked him up at the Monroe Police Department on their warrant.
Theft from a construction site
Two Simonton patio doors valued at a total of $2,800 were reported stolen from a construction site on Prestige Place Monday.
A representative of the home builders at the site told officers suspects may have entered through the back of a residential unit to get to the garage where the doors were kept.
Surveillance video showed a U-Haul box truck enter the site from Cutlers Farm Road at 1:56 a.m. on May 21 and leave at 2:09. Then on May 31, the same truck entered the site at 3:43 a.m. and left at 4:38 a.m., police said.
The theft is being investigated by the Monroe Police Detective Division.
Arrest in connection to theft
A 47-year-old Bridgeport man turned himself in on a warrant Thursday, charging him for his alleged role in a theft from Yankocy Wholesale Building Materials in May.
He was charged with conspiracy to commit sixth-degree larceny, third-degree criminal trespass and conspiracy to commit third-degree criminal mischief. He posted 10 percent of a $1,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on June 16.
On May 23, the owner of Yankocy Wholesale Building Materials, 143 Enterprise Drive, noticed the lock to the back gate had been cut and surveillance video showed three individuals, including the suspect, enter the property and load a tube-like object in back of a U-Haul van, police said.
Subaru vs. pole
A 76-year-old Fairfield man told officers he believes he fell asleep while driving his green 2007 Subaru Legacy north on Moose Hill Road, before crossing over the double yellow center lines and crashing into a utility pole early Tuesday morning.
He was treated by Monroe Volunteer Emergency Medical Service personnel at the scene and later taken to Bridgeport Hospital for further evaluation, police said.
He received an infraction for failure to maintain the established lane and his damaged Subaru was towed. The incident occurred around 5:47 a.m., just north of Elm Street.
Police said the utility pole was split at its base from the collision and the owner, Frontier, was called in for repairs.
Vehicle hits Goodwill
A 63-year-old Shelton woman told officers she accidentally stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake, while parking at the Goodwill store Tuesday morning, causing her black 2022 Jaguar E-Pace Sport to accelerate, go over the curb and crash into the building.
Police said there was substantial structural damage and the Monroe Fire Marshal’s Office and the building inspector were called in to ensure the building at 252 Monroe Turnpike was safe.
The driver was shaken up, but she and her passenger were not injured, according to the report.
The accident occurred around 10:20 a.m.
Rock through a window
A 33-year-old Monroe woman being held at York Correctional Institute on charges from Torrington police was served a Monroe warrant for second-degree criminal mischief Wednesday.
In October of 2022, she allegedly threw a rock through the window of a residence on Kimberly Drive, police said, adding her DNA was on the rock.
She was arraigned at court and was still being held on Torrington’s charges, according to police.
Mailbox vandalisms
Police responded to three complaints of mailbox vandalisms this Wednesday.
Just after 9 a.m. a Swendsen Drive woman, 55, told officers someone scattered a blue power-like substance inside her mailbox. It appeared to be chalk and covered the entire surface, according to the report.
She told officers it occurred approximately five times in the past, but this is the first time she is reporting it to police.
There is no evidence nor suspects at this time and the resident was told to call police if it ever happens again.
Then around 9:17 a.m. a Garder Road man, 39, told police he found a large dent on right side of his mailbox, preventing the door from closing.
Police said there were no tire tracks near the mailbox to indicate a vehicle was involved.
The victim said his wife noticed the damage around 9 a.m., adding he believes someone may have hit it with a baseball, though no other evidence was found on that theory, police said.
It will cost about $50 to install a new mailbox, police said, adding there are no suspects.
Similar damage was found on another mailbox on Garder Road, according to another complaint made by a 56-year-old man just before 3 p.m. Police said nothing was captured on video and there are no suspects at this time.
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