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A five-car accident at the intersection of Sunset Hill and East Avenues Tuesday afternoon made it difficult to get to Norwalk City Hall. It also frightened a city employee who got a good view of vehicles sliding in his direction from his bicycle seat.
Police said the 32-year-old driver who caused the collisions was taken to Norwalk Hospital. They said his gait was unsteady, his eyes glassy and bloodshot and his speech slurred. Police applied for a search warrant to get his blood alcohol level. They say they found many containers of alcohol in his vehicle, some of them open.
Witnesses say he ran a red light at about 2 p.m. as he turned from the southbound side of East Avenue onto Sunset Hill in his 2000 Toyota. First he rear-ended a 2004 Toyota sitting at the light. That car received minimal damage, but the driver of the crash car drove to the right to go around it and make the left, colliding with a car stopped on the northbound side of East Avenue.
There were two cars sitting on Sunset Hill, and the light had just turned green in their direction. The 2000 Toyota hit the car that was first in line, a 2004 Audi, head on, damaging a 2007 Mercedes Benz that was second in line. Tad Diesel, director of business and marketing for the city, was riding his bicycle on Sunset Hill and was protected from injury by the Mercedes, according to City Clerk Erin Halsey.
Police say Diesel hit the cars on Sunset Hill that were involved in the collision. He wasn't injured but went home early because he was shaken up.
Police say the driver who ran the light was not making sense and could not provide any details of the accident. They took him out of the vehicle, but he reached back in to try to start the car. They took his keys. They said he was unable to stand.
They found a Paul Masson Grande Amber Brandy bottle in the driver's side door compartment. It was more than half-empty and there was blood on the bottle. On the driver's seat floor was an open Corona bottle, partially empty. There were two Coors Light cans, two empty Miller Light bottles and two empty Miller Light cans. There was an empty 1-ounce bottle of brandy.
Traffic on Sunset Hill was blocked as the scene was cleaned up. The 2000 Toyota was towed away.
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