Four Times the Legal Limit

By Patrick Mcardle
THE RUTLAND HERALD
A local man is facing a felony charge after police said they responded to a call that he had stopped his car in the middle of the road May 25 near the intersection of South Main and Washington streets where he was found to have a blood alcohol content almost four times the legal limit.

Darius M. Kermanj, 56, of Rutland, pleaded not guilty Monday in Rutland criminal court to a felony count of driving under the influence of alcohol and a misdemeanor count of violating court-ordered conditions of release from custody.

The driving charge was modified to a felony because Kermanj has been convicted of similar offenses at least twice before in 2013 and 2018.

Kermanj also has a pending felony charge for driving under the influence of alcohol from an incident in Killington on May 9, 2020.

In that case, police allege Kermanj’s blood alcohol content was 0.279%, almost 3.5 times over the legal limit for driving in Vermont of 0.08%.

Kermanj was accused of violating conditions because he was ordered in June 2020 not to have, buy or possess alcohol.

The charges against Kermanj are based on an affidavit written by Sgt. Elias Anderson, of the Rutland City Police Department, who said he was dispatched to the area of South Main and Washington streets around 7 p.m. May 25.

A woman at the scene provided a written statement that said she had been on Washington Street and turning onto Route 7, known locally as South Main Street, when the car in front of her stopped for no apparent reason. She said as she drove around the driver, later identified as Kermanj, he was “slumped forward center of the seats.”

The woman said she drove to Terrill Street and turned around but when she came back, the car was still stopped in the road.

The woman called police and then approached the car. She said the driver didn’t respond but she could see he was breathing.

Two other people approached the car, and they got a response from the driver, she told police. The driver told them he wanted to leave but they were able to convince him to stay and wait for police, the affidavit said.

Anderson said when he approached Kermanj he “detected a strong odor of intoxicants.” Anderson said Kermanj’s speech was slurred and he was “confused” while Anderson spoke with him.

According to Anderson, Kermanj said he had one beer at the bowling alley and one beer at a Strongs Avenue bar before speaking with police.

While administering field sobriety tests, Anderson said he noted 14 indicators that Kermanj was intoxicated.

Kermanj agreed to a preliminary breath test around 7:30 p.m., which indicated his blood alcohol content was 0.318%, 3.975 times the legal limit of 0.08% for driving in Vermont.

On Monday, Kermanj was released without bail but ordered not to drive and not to drink alcohol.

If convicted of driving while intoxicated, he could be sentenced to up to five years in jail and would be subject to a mandatory penalty of at least four consecutive days in jail. The charge of violating conditions of release is punishable by up to six months in jail.

patrick.mcardle @rutlandherald.com