It’s a time-honored tradition: When you’ve had too much to drink, don’t drive. Call a cab.
Not so fast.
An alert “06880” reader spotted this item in Thursday’s Stamford Advocate:
A veteran Westport taxi driver was arrested for drunk driving Thursday morning just before he was to start collecting fares.
Edward McConnell, 69, of 43 Ivy Place, Norwalk, was arrested by Westport police at 7:30 a.m. after he was spotted driving in the wrong lane on Charles Street near the Westport train station, police said.
McConnell was arraigned in state Superior Court in Norwalk where he pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving under the influence. He was released on a promise to appear back in court, but Judge Bruce Hudock prohibited him from driving.
McConnell, a 21-year Westport Taxi employee, told police he was on his way to work at the time he was stopped.
During the traffic stop, the police officer said he smelled alcohol on McConnell’s breath and his speech was slow and slurred. A test put McConnell’s blood-alcohol content at 0.217 — more than double the legal 0.8 legal limit, police said.
The “06880” reader wrote:
I wonder how many times this guy took me from the Y or downtown or the beach to my house (a decent backroads drive), and he was completely hammered.
With the DUI crackdown going on in Saugatuck recently, it is sad that people make the choice to drive home after a few drinks because they don’t trust the taxi driver’s sobriety.
Calling a cab should be a smart move. Not a life-threatening one.
In China, authorities test taxi drivers for sobriety. Is Westport next?
