Police Blotter: Drunk Man Hit Parked Car, Passed Out With Engine Running

Police: Drunk Man Struck Parked Car, Passed Out With Engine Running

A Norwalk man was greeted with a DWI on April 29, after he passed out behind the wheel of his car and awoke to an officer turning off the ignition.

Police say Dion Baptist was pulling into a parking space in front of Resurrection School -- with an empty bottle of Smirnoff vodka and a couple cans of Coors Light in his car -- when he struck a parked car. The 51-year-old Norwalk man fell asleep with the engine still running, and a passing driver on Boston Post Road spotted him and called police. After waking Baptist, the officer asked him if he had been drinking or had taken medication, but Baptist didn't respond.

Police say Baptist "appeared to be heavily intoxicated" and couldn't pass a field sobriety test. Baptist, of 79 Gregory Boulevard in Norwalk, Conn., was arrested and brought back to police headquarters, where he was charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated. Baptist posted $50 bail and was set to appear in Rye court on May 4.

Bronx man nabbed on Rye court warrant

A Bronx man was arrested on a warrant April 29, after a resident reported a "suspicious person" in the parking lot of Resurrection Church.

The call came in to police at 9:37 a.m., and an officer arrived to find a man fitting the caller's description. That man was Mario L. Russo, 21, who presented his learner's permit as his identification, and told the officer he had just left a service at the church.

After Russo left and began walking north on Milton Road, the office radioed back to police headquarters for a warrant check, and an active warrant from Rye court turned up with Russo's name. Bruno, of Grand Concourse in the Bronx, was sought after he skipped several earlier court appearances on an unrelated matter, Rye police said. Russo was arraigned and sent to Westchester County Jail, where bail was set at $500 pending a scheduled court appearance on May 4.

Property taken from parked car

On May 3, a woman at 142 Maple Avenue told police her change purse had been stolen from her car. The victim said it happened between 9 and 10 a.m. the previous day. Nothing else was missing from the car. The police report did not specify whether the victim had locked her car.