DANIEL E. KUPRUCK
WESTFIELD – A Southwick man is facing charges including operating under the influence of liquor after he allegedly struck a police officer while operating his car on Routes 10 and 202 in Granby, Conn.
Capt. William Tyler of the Granby (Connecticut) Police Department reports that on Sunday evening Officer Mark Garofalo had stopped to assist the operator of a disabled tractor-trailer unit and was walking back toward his marked cruiser, which was stopped on the side of the roadway with its emergency lights activated, when he was struck by a 1999 Ford Taurus operated by Daniel E. Kupruck, 31, of 814 College Highway, Southwick.
Garofalo was transported to Hartford Hospital where he was treated and released.
Tyler reports that Kupruck was found to be intoxicated and the registration of his vehicle, which was not insured, had been suspended.
Kupruck was arrested and charged, in addition to the OUI charge, with operating an uninsured motor vehicle, operating a motor vehicle with suspended registration and striking a police officer with a motor vehicle.
He was found to be in possession of a pipe containing marijuana residue and was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.
Kupruck was released on $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Enfield Superior Court for arraignment on Aug. 12.
