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At 7:40 p.m. April 28, Westport officers responded to the crash at Post Road East and Morningside Drive, police said.
All three cars were severely damaged, and four people were transported to the hospital, police said.
While interviewing Julia Patnaude, who was the at-fault driver, the officer noted that she was incoherent in her answers, that her speech was slurred, and that there was a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on her, police said.
An officer who went into Patnaude’s vehicle to retrieve her wallet smelled burnt marijuana and saw an empty flask in plain view, police said.
When the officer went into Patnaude’s wallet to retrieve her driver's license, he also found a fake driver’s license with a different name and date of birth on it, police said. The date of birth on the fake license showed that its holder was 22 years old, police said.
The officer applied for a search warrant for any blood or urine samples taken when Patnaude was treated at Norwalk Hospital, police said. Those results showed that Patnaude’s blood alcohol level was above the legal limit for an operator under 21 at the time of the crash, police said.
The arrest warrant was completed, and on July 18, Patnaude turned herself in to Westport Police.
She was charged with operating under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs (under 21 years of age), traveling unreasonably fast, failure to obey a traffic control signal, and second-degree forgery for the fake ID.
Patnaude was released on $5,000 bond with a court date of July 31.
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