It was 1:53 a.m. Sunday when, according to police, a car was seen stopped at a flashing traffic light on the Post Road, with its engine running and the driver asleep. Then the car started moving.
Inside, police said, was the man's 3-year-old grandaughter.
gave this account of the incident:
A Darien police officer, traveling westbound on the Post Road, first saw the automobile stopped and the driver asleep at the wheel. After she turned around her patrol car so that it was behind the vehicle, a 2008 Toyota Yaris, that automobile began moving.
The car traveled on the Post Road from its intersection with Rings End Road east to the corner of Old Kings Highway South before it stopped. According to Google Maps, that's a distance of about a tenth of a mile. (See map attached to this article for the locations of both intersections.)
She then spoke with the driver, William Person, 38, of Stamford, and could smell alcohol on him.
During a search of the car, police found a 3-year-old girl sleeping on the floor in the back. Person told police she was as his granddaughter. Police later confirmed that.
The child was later turned over to her mother. The matter was referred to the Connecticut Department of Children and Families for investigation.
Person, of 275 Greenwich Ave., Stamford, was charged with risk of injury to a minor, transporting a child without a restraint system, driving while under the influence, operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license and failure to return a suspended license.
He was held in lieu of a $10,000 bond, which he did not post. He was scheduled to appear Monday in state Superior Court in Norwalk.
