Crime & Safety
Bethany Man Charged: Loaded, With a Loaded Gun
The following information was provided by the Norwalk Police Department. Neither arrests nor charges indicate a conviction, and neither means that a person is guilty of what police allege.
After police received a report of a man bleeding at the intersection of Washington and South Main streets, they confronted a 28-year-old Bethany man with a bloody cut above his nose.
Police gave the following account of the incident:
The man told police he might have fallen down. He was swaying, seemed very confused, and police could smell alcohol on him. When asked for identification, he handed police his pistol permit, which was valid.
When asked if he had a pistol with him, he said he did and took a 9 mm Ruger out of his right pocket and handed it to a police officer.
The gun was loaded, with one bullet in the chamber and seven in the clip.
Police decided the man, Anthony Ballerini of 5 Cedar Rd., Bethany, was also loaded after he told them he drank four or five beers at a bar on Washington Street, then at 8 p.m. had started drinking the first of what became three or four shots of whiskey.
Ballerini was treated and released from Norwalk Hospital. He was charged with carrying a firearm while under the influence of alcohol.
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