Police Hold Sobriety Checkpoints At Two Locations

By Andrew Gorosko

At the 31st sobriety checkpoint which town police have conducted since 2000, police tried a new approach that involved having the checkpoint held in two different locations on the same night.

From about 7:45 to 11 pm on Friday, July 18, police held the checkpoint on Hawleyville Road, at its intersection with Covered Bridge Road.

Police then moved the checkpoint about six miles to the south, to the section of South Main Street just north of its intersection with Ethan Allen Road, where a second motorist sobriety checking occurred from 11:30 pm Friday, July 18, to 2:30 am on Saturday, July 19.

At the July 18–19 checkpoints, police made two arrests on charges of driving under the influence, both at the South Main Street location, according to Sergeant Douglas Wisentaner, who supervised the event. Police stopped an estimated 1,000 vehicles overall.

At 11:36 pm on July 18 on South Main Street, police stopped motorist Christopher Capozza, 26, of 41 Jeremiah Road at the checkpoint. Capozza had been driving his 2003 Mitsubishi vehicle northward on South Main Street, when police stopped him to check on his sobriety.

Police gave Capozza filed sobriety tests, after which they charged him with driving under the influence, possession of less than four ounces of marijuana, and driving an unregistered motor vehicle. Police released him on $200 bail for an August 5 court appearance.

Then at 2:05 am, police stopped motorist Lawrence Passeck, 26, of Fairfield after he had driven through the checkpoint.

Police gave Passeck field sobriety tests, after which they charged him with driving under the influence and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Police released Passeck on $200 bail for an August 1 court appearance.

Earlier that night, at about 8:10 pm July 18 at Hawleyville Road, police arrested motorist Benjamin Bryan, 20, of Bethel on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of alcohol by a minor. Police released Bryan on a written promise to appear August 5 in Danbury Superior Court.

Two passengers in the vehicle which Bryan was driving were charged with possession of alcohol by a minor. They are Seth Brady, 20, and Abbash Kazmi, 20, both of Bethel. Both men received infraction tickets on the violations.

Besides those charges, police issued seven infractions at the checkpoints. They include two infractions each for driving without a license, driving an unregistered vehicle, and failure to wear a seatbelt, as well as one infraction for failure to obey an officer’s signal.

Police also issued 33 warnings to motorists. These included 19 warnings for improper display of marker plates, three warnings for improper turns, six warnings for improper or defective headlamps, and two warnings for defective windshields, as well as one warning each for failure to carry a driver’s license, failure to drive to the right, and failure to obey signs or markings.

At the checkpoints, nine police stopped all motorists who were traveling in both directions and briefly interviewed them to determine whether they were driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, said Sgt Wisentaner.

Since January 2000, town police have conducted 31 sobriety checkpoints on local roads. A total of 55 drivers have been charged with driving under the influence at those checkpoints, the sergeant said.

“This has clearly made the roadways of Newtown and the surrounding communities safer,” he said. “We don’t want people to drink and drive.”

Motorists passing through the July 18–19 checkpoints complimented police on their efforts to keep drunken drivers off thee roads, he said.

Police plan to hold another sobriety checkpoint in August, as well as conduct roving patrols to seek out drunken drivers, he said.

Police overtime costs for their work in expanded DUI enforcement is 75 percent reimbursable with federal highway safety grants.