On 11/09/2022 at approximately 2:32 A.M., Suffolk County Deputy Sheriffs stopped a car on Route 112 in Patchogue, NY, for failure to maintain lane. The driver, Ivan Vallejo, 51, of Medford, NY, was found to be intoxicated. Vallejo’s fourteen-year-old son was sitting in the front passenger seat of the vehicle.
Vallejo was arrested for Aggravated DWI (Leandra’s Law) and Endangering the Welfare of a Child. He was transported to the Sheriff’s Office Civil Bureau where he submitted to a chemical blood test. The blood was then transported to the Suffolk County Crime Lab and is pending analysis. Vallejo has a prior conviction for driving while intoxicated on November 21st, 2012.
Leandra’s Law (the Child Passenger Protection Act) is a NYS law making it an automatic felony on the first offense to drive drunk with a person age 15 or younger inside the vehicle. It was named after 11 year-old Leandra Rosado who was killed on the Henry Hudson Parkway on October 11, 2009, when she was the passenger in a car accident, driven by a driver who was allegedly driving while intoxicated.
Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. commends his deputies. “Suffolk County Deputy Sheriffs are out patrolling our county’s roads to keep the public safe. In this case, they not only prevented an intoxicated driver from causing an accident with another driver or a pedestrian, but they potentially saved the life of an adolescent in the vehicle. I am proud of their ongoing vigilance in protecting the residents of Suffolk County.”
The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office will be conducting increased DWI patrols and traffic stops over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Sheriff Toulon reminds you, “Stay alive- Don’t drink and drive!”
