Stratford Man Arrested After Crash, Walking Into Traffic: State Police

STRATFORD, CT — A Stratford man accused of driving under the influence and ignoring officers' requests to stop walking into traffic was arrested following a crash on Route 8 in Derby early Tuesday morning, according to state police.

In a news release, state police said the crash was reported around 1 a.m. on the southbound side of the highway near Exit 15 in Derby.

When troopers assigned to Troop I in Bethany arrived in the area, they found two vehicles stopped in the center lane and a man walking in the left lane to retrieve a tire, police said.

Out of concern for his safety, troopers verbally directed John Rose, 55, of Stratford, to move to a safer location and out of the path of oncoming traffic, police said.

According to police, Rose continued walking in the left lane, requiring troopers to physically escort him to a safer location. He did not report any injuries from the crash and declined medical assistance.

During the investigation, Rose was evasive when responding to questions and was asked repeatedly to provide troopers with his driver's license, registration and auto insurance information but did not provide them, police said.

As a trooper was documenting information about the crash, Rose started walking across the travel lanes again and did not respond initially when asked to move to a safer location, police said.

Troopers noticed Rose showed signs of possible impairment and asked him to perform standardized field sobriety tests, which he declined, police said.

When troopers told Rose he was under arrest based on their observations and his unwillingness to cooperate, he began to actively resist troopers' efforts to place him in a cruiser and Derby police were called to the area to assist, police said.

Once he was brought to Troop I, Rose remained uncooperative and refused to be fingerprinted and photographed, police said.

Rose was charged with operating under the influence, interfering with an investigation/officer, reckless use of highway by pedestrian, disobeying the signal of an officer and refusal of fingerprints/photograph.

He held on a $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court later this month, police said.