New Details Emerge in Accident that Killed Local Marine

New details have emerged in the Dec. 27 fatal accident on Greens Farms Road that killed 24-year-old Charles Rochlin, a Westport resident and U.S. Marine.

Manhattan resident Matthew Robert Packer, 25, has been arrested in connection with Rochlin's death on charges of second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle and driving under the influence of alcohol. At his arraignment in state Superior Court in Norwalk on Tuesday, and joined by Westport attorney Andrew B. Bowman, Packer did not enter a plea before Judge Bruce Hudock. 

Hudock ordered Packer to surrender his passport and to not travel outside the United States. He set Packer's bond at $250,000 and scheduled him to next appear in court Feb. 17. The manslaughter charge is a class C felony, punishable by a prison sentence of three to ten years and/or a fine of $10,000. Conviction under this charge also requires the person's driver's license be suspended for a year.

Westport police say Packer was operating a Jeep Grand Cherokee the morning of Dec. 27 on Greens Farms Road when he drove into a tree, causing the death of his passenger and childhood friend, Charles Rochlin.

In an affidavit to obtain an arrest warrant for Packer, Westport police Det. George Taylor says several town officers who responded to the accident scene at 2:45 a.m. said Packer told them he was a passenger in the rear seat and didn't know who was driving. He allegedly told an officer the vehicle was his, but then said it belonged to someone he'd just met at the Sherwood Diner on Post Road East in Westport.

Police determined the Jeep belongs to Dorothy Packer of 106 Long Lots Road. The affidavit says Matthew Packer also lives at that address, but in a news release Westport police issued Tuesday, it gives his address as 378 Third Ave., Apt. 3A, New York City.

At the accident scene, Packer allegedly told officers the unconscious man in the front passenger seat was named "Charley."

An officer checked Rochlin for vital signs, Taylor writes, and found he had no pulse and was not breathing. Rochlin was later pronounced dead at Norwalk Hospital.

Police said the vehicle had extensive passenger-side damage.

Some of the officers reported Packer had a smell of alcohol on his breath and, Taylor says, one said Packer told him he'd had seven to ten beers. Another officer reported Packer's eyes were "glassy and bloodshot."

Officer Michael Gudzik reported seeing numerous cans of Coors Light Beer on the ground around the vehicle and inside it.

At some point during questioning, the affidavit says, Packer began crying uncontrollably, repeatedly asking about "Charley."

According to the affidavit, Packer claimed the driver had run away, so police and firefighters spent an hour searching the surrounding woods, without finding anyone.

State police examined the Jeep and determined anyone sitting in the rear, passenger-side seat would have had considerable injuries and most likely would have been pinned in the car, according to the affidavit. The troopers also found that someone sitting behind the driver would have been sprayed with Rochlin's blood, which was not found on Packer's clothing or body.

After Westport police obtained a sample of blood drawn from Packer in Norwalk Hospital's emergency department, Taylor says the state's toxicology lab determined his blood-alcohol content was 0.21. A state statute says a driver is guilty of drunk driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 or above.

The affidavit says an examination by an assistant state medical examiner found Rochlin died of "multiple blunt traumatic injuries," including lacerations to his liver, a torn aorta, and separation of his brain from his spinal cord. His manner of death was listed as "accident."

Through an extensive number of interviews, Westport detectives said they were able to determine that from late Saturday night on Dec. 26 until early Sunday morning, Rochlin and Packer visited the Westport establishments Black Duck Café on Riverside Avenue, Dunville's Restaurant on Saugatuck Avenue, and the Sherwood Diner.

According to the affidavit, a Black Duck Café bartender, Glen Ferrari, told detectives the men came in and ordered two beers and two shots of Rupleman's peppermint schnapps.

Approximately 15 minutes later, Ferrari reportedly said, they ordered the same drinks, and five minutes after that, ordered two more shots.

Ferrari said he told the men they should "take it easy" and refused to continue serving them.

The owner of Dunville's Restaurant, Dan Horlik, and a bartender there, Andrew Wilcox, recalled the two men being there. Wilcox is said to have told the detectives Rochlin approached the bar and ordered six shots, but he appeared intoxicated and was refused service.

Accounts by other witnesses allegedly placed the men in the Sherwood Diner, including one who said she believed Packer was drunk "because of his statements and behavior."

A waitress at the diner, Angeliki Kostandinidis, allegedly told detectives she believed Rochlin and Packer, who she knew from previous visits, were drunk, on medication or very tired because, "they were not acting right."

A man in the diner said he recalled seeing the Jeep involved in the Dec. 27 accident leaving the parking lot with two people in it. He said he connected the vehicle he saw to the one in the accident because he read an Internet news story about the accident that included a photo of the Jeep.

The man allegedly said he knew it was the same vehicle because of its rear license plate cover.

According to the affidavit, Christopher Kosinski was driving his friend James Myers home on Greens Farms Road Dec. 27. They stopped at the accident scene to offer assistance. According to Kosinski, a white man was sitting in the driver's seat of the crashed Jeep with his face in the deployed airbag. He said Myers helped the man exit the vehicle.

Kosinski said the man was saying, "Charley, wake up, Charley, wake up," slurring his words and smelling of alcohol.

In concluding his request for an arrest warrant, Taylor says the material contained in his affidavit indicates Rochlin and Packer were together throughout the evening and no third person was present.

Rochlin was raised in Westport and enlisted in the Marine Corps in March 2008.

He served a seven-month tour in Iraq and returned home in September. He was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan last month.

Rochlin is buried in Willowbrook Cemetery in Westport.