[Updated] Darien Football Coach Charged with DUI, Assaulting Cop

Update:

Attorney Mark Sherman of Stamford, who is representing Christian Garnett, gave Patch this statement about the case: "The allegations don't make sense. 

"This was a routine traffic stop which was proceeding peacefully and escalated through no fault of Mr. Garnett's. He was savagely beaten and we intend on finding out who was responsible for this assault and why it was permitted to take place."

***

Christian Garnett of Stamford, who has been a Darien High School football coach and a lacrosse coach in Darien, was charged by Norwalk police just after midnight Thursday with driving while intoxicated, resisting arrest, assault on a police officer and possession of drug paraphernalia.

A Norwalk police officer, Michelle McSally, received injuries to her knee and ankle when trying to put handcuffs on Garnett, Norwalk police said.

During the struggle to put Garnett in handcuffs, several police officers piled up on him on the ground as he struggled, and he was tasered twice, police said.

According to Garnett's LinkedIn page (as of 12:11 p.m. Thursday) he is a 2013 Varsity D-Line coach at Darien High School and co-head coach for the Eighth Grade Travel B Team for Darien Youth Lacrosse.

Norwalk police gave this account (an accusation not proven in court) of the matter:

At about 12:41 a.m. McSally was driving a patrol car westbound on Connecticut Avenue when she saw a vehicle coming in the opposite direction, swerving into different lanes and accompanied by a loud noise, apparently from the fact that one of the rear tires was missing and the rim was in contact with the pavement.

McSally turned her patrol car around and followed the vehicle with lights and siren on. The vehicle pulled over in the area of 121 Connecticut Ave., not far from the Norwalk Fire Department headquarters building.

Before the cars stopped, McSally saw that the driver, Garnett, appeared to be turning around a bit, putting something in the back seat. As she approached the vehicle, the Garnett''s left hand was outside the window, tapping on the outside of the car.

When McSally spoke with Garnett, she could see his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, his speech was slurred and he smelled of alcohol.

She asked him where he was going, and he replied, "Rondonolia Park." She asked him where he was coming from, and he replied, "I just told you: Rondonolia Park." She pointed out to him the difference in the two questions, and he replied, "Tokeneke Road" in Darien.

She asked him if he was aware that one of his rear tires had come off, and he replied, "I'm about to pull into a gas station to put air in it." She reported that he looked confused, told her he was almost home and asked her to let him just go home. (Whether or not he lives in Norwalk now, the address police recorded for him is on Strawberry Hill Avenue in Stamford.)

When Garnett left the vehicle and saw the state of the rear rim with the missing tire, he said, "Wow, this is ridiculous."

Garnett proceded to fail two field sobriety tests. For a third test, in which he was directed to stand on one leg, he replied, "There's no way I could do that test."

By this point, other officers had arrived on the scene to assist McSally, a somewhat short woman about to take a large, apparently intoxicated man into custody. (Police estimated Garnett is 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs 240 pounds.) Officers Richard Holmes, Paul Wargo, Tomasz Podgorski and Sgt. Gregg Scully were all at the scene at some points.

McSally walked up to Garnett to put his hands behind his back in order to handcuff him when he stiffened his body, turned and looked like he was about to take a swing at an officer.

At this point, Garnett swung his arms at officers, refused verbal commands and, at at least one point, kicked McSally in the leg. According to one police report, McSally's and Garnett's legs were entangled at one point on the ground as three officers piled on Garnett, trying to get him under control.

McSally yelled for an officer to taser Garnett and two different officers did so, each not knowing the other one was doing the same thing. One of the taser guns didn't succeed in delivering its charge.

One officer struck Garnett during the struggle twice in the face, "as it was the only available target," and Garnett was also struck several times on his side.

When Garnett was handcuffed, he was taken by ambulance to Norwalk Hospital in order for the taser darts to be removed. At the emergency department, Garnett was argumentative and uncooperative with staff. He objected to being photographed and tried to kick the camera out of the hands of an officer.

Handcuffed to a bed, he put a foot on the floor and tried to move the bed. When told by a doctor that he would be sedated if he continued bothering other patients by his yelling, he yelled at a male nurse, "You must be a real Tommy Tough Nuts, huh?"

In the back of Garnett's vehicle, police found a bag with two syringe needles in it, a grinder and pipes of a kind used for drugs and a container with what appeared to be marijuana residue in it. Elsewhere in the vehicle were devices used by a diabetic. Garnett's blood sugar level was checked at the hospital, and he was fine.

Garnett was charged with assault on a police officer, interfering with an officer,  driving while under the influence and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released overnight on $10,000 bond and is scheduled to appear Nov. 8 in state Superior Court in Norwalk.

At one point at Norwalk Hospital, as he was arguing with staff, he said, "All this and I haven't even had that much to drink."