Wrong Way Impaired Driver In Hit & Run Head-On Crash Faces Charges: PD

BRANFORD, CT — Monday night just before dusk, cops got a call about an "erratic operator" driving eastbound on East Main Street. The caller reported the vehicle had "gone up on a curb" and "crossed into oncoming traffic," police said.

The driver, now on the wrong side of the roadway under the I-95 Exit 55 overpass, struck a vehicle head-on, police said.

Later identified as Paul G. Raffone, 52, of Northford, he fled the crash and took police on a chase, authorities noted. Raffone was eventually stopped by officers near Business Park Drive.

"Raffone failed field sobriety tests and was placed under arrest," police wrote in a Facebook post. The driver of the vehicle police said Raffone hit suffered a "minor injury and refused further treatment on scene."

Raffone was charged with engaging in a police pursuit, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, failure to drive in the proper lane, driving wrong-way on a divided highway, and evading responsibility with injury/property damage.