Police: DUI for Man Driving Downtown Without Lights at 1:40 AM

When a 2000 Audi S4 backed out of a parking spot on Tokeneke Road near the Darien train station at about 1:40 a.m., Saturday, the vehicle was seen by a Darien police officer whose car was stopped as he monitored traffic, police said.

The officer also noticed that the car didn’t have its lights on, nor were they turned on as the driver stared leaving the area, according to police, who wound up charging the man with driving while under the influence.

Darien police gave this account (an accusation not proven in court) of the incident:

The officer followed the Audi along the Post Road to its intersection with Academy Street, where the driver stopped.

When the officer spoke to the driver, Michael Montoni, 44, of Seymour, Montoni’s eyes were glassy, his speech was slurred, and the smell of an alcoholic beverage was coming from him. He told the officer that he had been drinking with a friend at Ernie’s bar on Tokeneke Road, and now he was bringing the friend home.

Montoni said he drank only a couple of drinks at the bar that night, but he wasn’t able to complete all field sobriety tests. He refused to take a breath test and was taken to Darien Police Headquarters. Montoni, who refused to submit to a breath test, was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol and failure to display lights.

Montoni was initially held on $250 bond. His court date is scheduled or April 23 in state Superior Court in Norwalk.