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The man's arrest stemmed from an incident that began on Monday, June 19 just after 3:40 a.m., when state police received a report of a car traveling north in the southbound lanes in New Haven County in the area of Exit 60 in Madison.
According to state police, a responding trooper soon found the wrong-way vehicle and tried to stop it. However, the vehicle then struck the trooper's cruiser and damaged it before finally coming to a stop. The trooper inside the cruiser was not injured.
The driver of the vehicle, identified as Paul Usenia of Exeter, Rhode Island, declined any medical assistance at the scene before he was asked to perform sobriety tests, which he declined to take part in.
He was then taken into custody and charged with:
- Operating under the influence;
- Failure to maintain lane;
- Reckless driving;
- Driving the wrong way on a divided highway.
After his arrest processing, Usenia was released on a $500 non-surety bond. He will be arraigned in New Haven Superior Court on Friday, July 7.
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