Westport Man Passed Out, Crashed Car With Children Inside: State PD

WESTPORT, CT — A 33-year-old Westport man was arrested on a warrant by Connecticut State Police on Thursday in connection with an October 2023 incident in which he passed out and crashed his car with a 7-year-old and an infant in the vehicle. Though shaken up, the children were not injured in the crash, according to authorities.

State police charged Alexander Gomez with a host of motor vehicle charges related to the one-vehicle crash, which occurred in the late morning of Oct. 26 on I-95 northbound between exits 17 and 18.

Gomez was seen driving erratically before the crash, weaving between all three lanes on the thruway, and when troopers arrived on the scene, they found Gomez limp, passed out, with bluish lips and in respiratory arrest, state police said in the warrant.

The troopers administered Narcan to Gomez, which appeared to revive him and reverse his respiratory arrest, according to the warrant.

He was taken to Norwalk Hospital following the crash, but no able to perform standard sobriety tests, due to his injuries.

As a result of his reaction to the Narcan, state police believe Gomez was under the influence of an opiate at the time of the crash, and charged him with the following: operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol with a juvenile in the vehicle; risk of injury to a child, 2 counts; failure to drive in the proper lane; second-degree reckless endangerment; driving with an improperly secured juvenile in the vehicle; failure to secure a rear child seat.

Gomez was taken into custody by Norwalk police on Thursday, and was turned over to state police. He was held in lieu of bail of $150,000, and was scheduled to be arraigned in Stamford Superior Court on Friday.