R.I.P. Andrew Roach

AITE Edge article written by Hannah Cerasoli:
 
On Friday, the second of November, tragedy struck the small town of Darien when Andrew Roach, 19, took his life. Behind him, he left a family and a short-lived lifetime of youth and friendships. He graduated from AITE in June, unable to complete the last year of his life.

Andrew was born on August 6th, 1993. He was introduced to the concept of death at the age of 7, when his mother died, leaving him with his father and two sisters.

He grew up in Darien, and attended high school here at AITE. Andrew was a volunteer fireman at the Round Hill Fire Company in Greenwich, which he began working at on December 7th of last year. After graduating from AITE in June 2012, he also graduated from the Stamford Regional Fire School. His life seemed to be more or less on track.

Andrew was a boy with a life and with friends just like any other teen. A hobby of his was sailing, which he did at the Cedar Point Yacht Club, and at Camp Sloane. His inspiration for becoming a firefighter was the tragedy of 9/11, in which his father was involved. He looked up to his father ever since then, when he helped get victims of the attack out of the rubble via setting up an enormous tool stand. After that, he attended more than one memorial for the event, and was inspired to do good for people. The Daily Voice quoted him as being “optimistic about the future.”

Like other unlucky teenagers nationwide, Andrew Roach suffered from depression for years. His family noticed a lack of interest to do anything. It came with much grief and little surprise when they discovered his fate.

Andrew Roach was just another face in these hallways last year, and just another boy in the town of Darien. Yet to some people, he was a son, a grandson, a brother, a nephew, a cousin, and a best friend. They choose to remember how he lived, not how he died.

Rest in peace, Andrew Roach.

Car VS. Train, Darien

An elderly man was hurt in a car versus train crash in Darien... They are saying he's in his early 90s. Another one!

Check out these pictures... Apparently he is going to be OK after being taken to the hospital..

Is it just me or does it look like the steering wheel is on the right side, like a British auto? lol..

Danbury Woman Arraigned for Alleged Stalking

(11/17/10) NORWALK - A Danbury woman was arraigned in Stamford Superior Court today for allegedly stalking her former social worker twice this month.

Police say 21-year-old Sofia Gomes was charged Nov. 4 after the victim complained that Gomes followed her home to Darien after she left her Danbury office. They say they found Gomes outside the victim's home while taking down the complaint.

Officials say Gomes was also arrested on Nov. 9 after she again followed the woman home.

(Pretty crappy video on news website)

Danbury Woman Arrested for Stalking Darien Therapist Multiple Times

I'm not going to say much about the subject other than this girl who was arrested works at the other house I fill in at, and went through training with me!

DARIEN -- A woman who allegedly kept following her former therapist home from the woman's Danbury office was arrested Tuesday for the second time in a week by Darien police.

Sophia Gomes, 21, of 5 Clearbrook Road, Danbury, was arraigned at state Superior Court in Stamford on Wednesday on charges of second-degree stalking.

Because allegations in the police reports were so "scary," Judge Robert Genuario ordered her held in lieu of $50,000 bond, which could be lowered next week if her attorney, David Bothwell, can show she will be receiving supervised treatment.

At Bothwell's request, Genuario ordered Gomes be given medical treatment and be put on suicide watch.

Gomes, a job coach for the developmentally disabled at Abilis in Greenwich, was arrested in Darien on Tuesday night after her former therapist drove to Darien police headquarters to report that Gomes had just followed her home, a police report states.

Police reached Gomes on her cell phone and persuaded her to meet them at Holmes School, near the Stamford-Darien border, where she was arrested and held overnight for her arraignment.

The therapist, whose name is being withheld because she is a victim in the case, told police that Gomes has followed her during the 40 minute trip from her Danbury office on at least six occasions since July, the report said.

On Nov. 4, Gomes allegedly followed the woman home from Danbury and, after police found her just outside the therapist's apartment building, she was charged with third-degree stalking and first-degree criminal trespassing and released after her parents posted $500 bond.

After another stalking incident on Oct. 31, Darien police told Gomes that if she followed the woman home again she would be arrested, the police report states.

The therapist told police that when she took Gomes on as a patient it was determined she also followed other therapists.

The woman told Gomes she would not treat her if she followed her.

In July, she saw Gomes following her and dropped her as a patient.

Five days later, she noticed Gomes following her again and drove straight to the Wilton police department, where Gomes was held for questioning and released after it was determined she was not a danger to herself.

But before she was released in Wilton, Gomes asked if she could say goodbye to her former therapist "for closure" and the therapist allowed the request, the police report said.

In early August, the therapist said Gomes followed her to Norwalk but turned off before the woman turned toward her home in Darien.

On Oct. 31, Gomes followed the therapist home again, police said, but this time she followed the therapist directly to Darien police headquarters, where she was warned not to follow the woman anymore.

When they arrested her at the woman's Hoyt Street apartment on Nov. 4, Gomes told police that she drove by the woman's house and saw the police cruisers parked in the driveway and figured that the police would want to talk to her, the police report said.

Gomes is to return to court on Nov. 17.

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It's really weird because there's a Hoyt Street in Darien (where the woman lived and they mention in the end of article, but the house she worked for at Abilis was on Hoyt Street in Stamford...

Records Released in Fatal I-95 Crash

DARIEN - Newly released court records show the woman accused in a fatal I-95 crash in Darien last month failed a field sobriety test.

The records show Candice Blanks, 39, of Stamford, failed the field test after she struck and killed two men changing a flat tire. The eight-page search warrant shows that police attempted to give her a Breathalyzer test, but didn't have a working Breathalyzer.

Troopers say when she was brought to the state police barracks, Blanks smelled of alcohol and was experiencing mood swings. They say she even asked to call her dog at home.

Friends of the two victims, Lucas Silva and Felipe Chagas, as well as an attorney for one of the families, did not want to comment on the report.

Twenty Years Later: Slaying of Police Officer Still Unsolved

Memorial Day 1981, it was just before 3:30 pm when 34-year-old Darien Patrol Officer Kenneth Bateman Jr. responded to burglar alarm at a fast food restaurant on Post Road near I-95.

When his back up officer arrived at the Duchess, near the border with Norwalk, Bateman was found bleeding from a gunshot wound to the neck. He died shortly afterwards.

Two witnesses reported seeing a heavyset man around the age of 40 run away. However, searches by police and tracking dogs revealed only burglar tools and around $2,000 that had been stolen and apparently dropped during the escape.

The State, town and police union have put up a $100,000 dollar reward for information leading to the conviction of the individual(s) responsible for the slaying of Kenneth Bateman Jr. Police say all calls to them will be confidential and that protection is available.
The Darien police can be reached at 203-662-5330.

Darien Driver Killed in Bizarre Crash

I somehow missed posting this article, although I should've when it had happened.
Joe's last house was in Darien, one street away from this horrible fatal accident which happened July 11th, 2010:

Darien, Conn. (WTNH) - A Darien woman died in an early morning crash on Hollow Tree Road today. Police say speed definitely played a part in the accident.

The residential road in the Noroton Heights section of town was closed for 11 hours while investigators processed the scene.

Anita Rycenga lives in the neighborhood. “It sounded like a huge explosion, like when a transformer, one of those big electrical boxes goes. I bolted out of bed.”

The damage created from this one-vehicle accident is immense.

Around 1:30 am, police say a BMW came through Hollow Tree Ridge Road at an extremely high rate of speed. The female driver apparently lost control along a curve. The car went airborne, flew through the unoccupied bedroom of one house, hit a tree and went into the kitchen of the second house.

“There's a significant debris field spanning two separate residences, the roadways, two houses involved,” stated Darien Police Sergeant Jeremiah Marron. "I've never seen an accident that included the dynamics that took place here."

For such a large and uncommon scene, the outcome could have been much worse. Everyone in the second house was asleep on the second floor and away from the damage. The first house was unoccupied at the time of the accident.

Brooke Barrington said her parents just left for vacation on Saturday and if they hadn't, things might have been very tragic.

“If my mom was in town she would be dead. Her head is at that side of the house, that's her bed.”

No injuries were reported in the homes, and police say they are in the early stages of a long investigation.

Investigators say the homes sustained serious structural damage, and that at least one was in danger of collapsing as they tried to remove the car.

30-year-old Whitney Smith, a Darien resident, suffered severe injuries and died a short time later at Stamford Hospital.

This investigation remains ongoing.

If you witnessed or have information about this accident, please contact the Darien Police Department at 203-662-5300.

Whitney Smith’s family and friends, this week, remembered her as a loving, giving woman who had a great life all set up. Smith died early Sunday when her car collided with two Darien houses.

Chris Smith, Whitney’s father, said the family was devastated by the loss of his daughter, who was to marry Douglas Stella of Milford in September. She was a registered retirement associate at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Purchase, N.Y.

Woman Accused in Fatal Darien Hit-and-Run Faces Judge

(11/01/10) STAMFORD - The woman accused in a hit-and-run crash that killed two men last month went before a judge this morning.

Police say Candice Blanks was drunk when she struck and killed Lucas Silva and Felipe Chagas before fleeing the scene.

Blanks has been charged with driving while intoxicated and evading responsibility.

An attorney for Blanks said yesterday that his client was not drunk and that Blanks pulled over on her own, after her airbags deployed in the collision.

State police have not released Blanks' blood-alcohol level and say it's quite possible she refused to be tested that night.

-See video at court-

-Crazy details on accident here-

(One girl that was accompanying the victims fainted at the scene...)

Stamford Woman Charged With Vehicular Manslaughter After I-95 Hit and Run Accident Leaves 2 Dead

Daily Stamford- A 39-year-old Stamford woman is facing vehicular manslaughter charges in the deaths of two men struck and killed Saturday as they changed a tire on I-95 in Darien.

Candice Blanks was also charged with driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident. Lucas Silva, 22, of Stamford and Felipe Chagas, 19, of Bethel were standing on the shoulder near Exit 11 southbound at around 2:30 a.m. when they were struck by Blanks' vehicle.

Blanks then hit another car parked on the right shoulder of the highway, according to police reports. She fled the scene, even after her airbags deployed, but was apprehended shortly thereafter by Darien police.

Chagas and Silva were pronounced dead at the scene. Blanks was being held on a $250,000 bond.

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DARIEN — Two young men were killed as they changed a tire on a disabled car along I-95 southbound near Exit 11.

The man were killed about 2:30 Saturday morning, and the woman who hit them was charged with drunken driving.

Felipe Chagas, 19, of Bethel and Lucas Silva, 22, of Stamford, were standing on the shoulder of the highway and changing the left rear tire of a Chevrolet Cavalier when the crash happened. A short distance ahead, several friends in a Volkswagen Passat had pulled off the highway to help.

Candice Blanks' was driving past when her Lincoln Aviator apparently veered into the shoulder and hit the two men, police said. The impact hurled Chagas against the Passat, and Blanks' SUV dragged Silva about 170 feet, state troopers said.

Blanks kept driving even though her car's airbag deployed, but she was caught a little farther south on the highway, according to police. Blanks, 29, of Stamford, was charged with drunken driving, two counts of vehicular manslaughter, evading responsibility and failing to stay in her lane. She was held in lieu of a $250,000 bond pending arraignment Monday.

Police called ambulances for a passenger in the Passat who suffered a minor injury and a 19-year-old passenger in the Cavalier who fainted. Troopers ask that any witnesses contact Troop G at 203-696-2500.

Man Sentenced to 20 Years for 2003 Rape of Darien Jogger

STAMFORD -- A man who pleaded guilty to ambushing and raping a Darien woman as she was jogging was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday, nearly seven years after the attack.

Jose Amaya, 40, formerly of East Hartford, pleaded guilty to first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sexual assault in October. Amaya fled the United States and was extradited from Mexico in April. He was sentenced Thursday morning in state Superior Court in Stamford, said the prosecutor, State's Attorney David Cohen. After spending 20 years in prison, Amaya will spend 10 years on special parole.

In April 2003, authorities said, Amaya and Alejandro Mendez ambushed a 38-year-old woman as she was on a Sunday morning jog near Ring's End and Long Neck Point roads. The men punched and kicked her, smashed a bottle over her head and dragged her into their vehicle. They then drove her to a secluded spot of Noroton Heights and sexually assaulted her, authorities said.

The woman escaped and ran to a nearby church, authorities said.

Mendez pleaded guilty to his role in the attack and will serve 15 years.

An accomplice in the incident, Mendez was arrested in June 2003 in Los Angeles, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison two years later after pleading guilty to first-degree sexual assault and kidnapping.

Prosecutors at the time of the attack said both men were illegal immigrants working as day laborers in Norwalk. Within a month of the attack, police said they suspected Amaya had fled to Mexico. He could be deported after his release from prison, prosecutors have said.