A police officer driving a squad car on Flax Hill Road on Saturday had to swerve out of the way to keep a GMC pickup truck coming from the opposite direction from hitting the car, police said.
Police charged the 18-year-old driver with driving under the influence of alcohol after the pickup damaged parked cars on Flax Hill Road and Lowe Street police said.
Norwalk police gave this account (an accusation not proven in court) of the matter:
After the near miss, which occurred just before 8 p.m., the officer made a U-turn and started following the pickup truck, but the vehicle was soon out of sight.
At that point, apparently, the pickup struck a parked car on Lowe Street and then drive off.
A little while later, the officer again saw the truck strike a parked vehicle near Jordan's Too Restaurant and Pizza at 252 Flax Hill Rd., then stop
A pizza delivery man who was about to get into the struck vehicle, a 1999 Subaru Legacy, was later told by a police officer that he needed to see the damage, first.
When the police officer caught up with the white GMC pickup truck, the officer asked the driver, Javy Martinez of 23 Elmwood Ave., to step out of the vehicle.
Martinez initially became beligerant. He was "assisted out of the vehicle," a police spokesman said, and handcuffed. Martinez' speech was so slurred that the police officer couldn't understand him.
The pickup sustained heavy front-end damage. Martinez said he wasn't injured. A front-seat passenger in the car with Martinez wasn't injured either.
Also in the vehicle was a 375 ml. bottle of 80-proof Palo Viejo rum, one-third full, and seven rectangular-shaped pills later identified as alprazolam, more popularly known by the brand name Xanax, a controlled substance. A small, clear plastic straw with a bit of one of the pills inside it was also in the car.
Martinez' eyes were glassy, his speech was slow, labored and he was slurring his words. The officer could smell alcohol on him. Rather than administer a field sobriety test outdoors, the officer took Martinez to police headquarters.
There, Martinez was unsteady on his feet and was sat down on a bench. He nearly fell over when he removed his jacket and had so much difficulty in removing his shoe laces that a police officer did it for him.
When handed a printed copy of his Miranda rights, Martinez had difficulty reading it and after a few minutes he dropped it. A police officer then read it to him.
Martinez admitted that he had hit a car on Lowe Street, but added that he didn't hit it hard. He denied hitting the car near the restaurant.
He said he drank rum from the bottle that night and the pills were his. He had paid $5 per pill for them and used them for his back, Martinez told police. He couldn't tell the officer what pills they were.
Martinez also said he had been arrested in Texas on a charge of driving while under the influence of alcohol. An attempt to administer field tests to Martinez was stopped because the officer feared he would fall down.
But the officer then had Martinez do a one-legged stand test. The police report did not explain why the officer would do this after stopping an earlier sobriety test for fear of Martinez falling.
Martinez initially failed a breathalyzer test. When told that under state law his license would be suspended an additional three months if he refused, he replied that this was not a problem since his driver's license had already been suspended.
Later he agreed to take the test. The first result was a blood-alcohol level of 0.1337, the second was 0.1222. The legal limit is 0.08.
Martinez was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol, failure to drive on the right side of the road, possession of a controlled substance, evading responsibility, operating a motor vehicle without a license and driving without insurance.
He was held on $5,000 bond and was scheduled to appear Dec. 5 in state Superior Court in Norwalk if he was able to meet bail.
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