Police Seize 40 Grams Of Crack On Ledge Road

A traffic stop over the weekend yielded a significant seizure of crack cocaine off of a Stamford man, according to a Darien police official.

Darryl Files, 42, was charged with possession of narcotics, interfering with an officer, and failing to obey a stop sign after police pulled over his 2001 Volvo S80 on Sunday.

Around 3 p.m., an officer who had been driving westbound on Post Road behind Files reportedly saw the suspect run a red light at Tokeneke Road. The officer pursued Files, eventually pulling him over at Ledge Road just off of Post.

After a background check yielded several previous arrests—including on charges of assault—the officer asked Files if he had any weapons or contraband on him. Files said he did not, according to police.

The officer still elected to carry out a search of Files' person, patting him down for weapons. Files allegedly became uneasy during the pat down, struggling and resisting instructions to put his hands behind his back. With the assistance of a second unit that had arrived on the scene, police said the officer forcibly subdued the man, who stopped struggling when threatened with a taser.

After placing handcuffs on the suspect, police carried out a search of his pockets, revealing a reported 40.1 grams of crack cocaine packaged in a clear plastic bag. A K9 unit from Norwalk assisted in an additional search of the vehicle, which police also seized, but no further contraband was found.

Files was arrested, charged, and held on $100,000 bond, which he successfully posted. He is set to appear in court June 3.

Court records list a variety of guilty pleas under a man matching Files' name, birth year, and geography, including to charges of reckless driving in 2007; failure to appear in 2004 and 2007; use of drug paraphernalia in 2003, 2005, and 2007; and criminal trespassing in 2003 and 2004.

A police spokesman said additional charges may be pursued against Files by the state's attorney's office.

In the State of Connecticut, "the possession of a quantity of narcotics far greater than the amount a drug user would usually possess for his or her own use" is considered sufficient proof of intent to sell a controlled substance, a charge that typically carries a harsher sentence than possession alone.

General dosage estimates from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency approximate a single dose of crack cocaine to be between 100 and 500 milligrams. Going by that figure, 40.1 grams of crack would comprise between 80 and 401 doses of the drug.