Driver Crashes Head-On Into Car After Drinking at Ruby Tuesdays: Police

Middletown police charged a Durham man with drunken driving and possession of a small amount of marijuana following a head-on collision he was involved in after drinking alcohol at Ruby Tuesdays in Cromwell, police said

Thomas Perrault, 23, was traveling in the westbound direction after getting off Route 9 in Middletown when he crashed head-on into a black Ford Escape with his blue Jeep Grand Cherokee on Hartford Avenue (Route 17), blocking eastbound lanes just east of St. Johns Square, police said. Police responded at 7:45 p.m. on Saturday, March 21.

Perrault told police that he took his eyes off the road momentarily while rounding a bend to look at his passenger and didn't realize his vehicle had crossed over the double yellow line into oncoming traffic as he neared the Main Street intersection. The front of his vehicle on the driver's side crashed into the driver's side on the other car, police said. His passenger told police she was looking out the passenger side window and she heard a loud bang and was confused about what happened, police said.

A responding officer noticed Perrault's eyes were "glassy and blood shot" and smelled alcohol on his breath, so he requested he take a field sobriety test, police said. Perrault and his passenger told the officer that he only had two drinks at Ruby Tuesdays in Cromwell, but he agreed to take the sobriety test and failed all phases of it, police said.

Before police took him to the station for booking, he admitted to the officer that he had pot in his car and police found a small amount of marijuana and a small black scale with pot residue on it in the center console of his car, police said.

Perrault's blood alcohol content came back as .095 when he took a breathalyzer at the station at 8:37 p.m. and 0.89 when he took it a second time at 8:59 p.m. that night. The legal limit is .08, putting Perrault just over.

Police arrested Perrault on charges of operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol and failure to drive in the proper lane. He was further charged with possession of less than 0.5 ounces of marijuana and possession of marijuana paraphernalia with less than 0.5 ounces of marijuana.