Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. announced today that Deputy Sheriffs will be increasing their DWI patrols over the next two weeks to keep roadways safe for the upcoming holidays. The enhanced holiday DWI enforcement will include checkpoints and increased patrols over the Christmas and New Year’s Eve weekends.
“Our Deputy Sheriffs continue to do an incredible job patrolling for impaired drivers. This year they surpassed the previous year’s DWI arrests — making many lifesaving arrests including Leandra’s Law and wrong way drivers. They will end the year strong with enhanced DWI enforcement over the next two holiday weekends so we can all safely celebrate with friends and family,” said Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr.
The Sheriff’s Office DWI Enforcement Team has made a record amount of DWI arrests this year with more than 200 arrests to date. Included in the DWI arrests so far this year are 31 aggravated DWI charges (the defendant had a BAC of .18 or higher), 19 with prior DWI arrests, one wrong way driver and two Leandra’s Law arrests. 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 15 or younger inside the vehicle. The law 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 driving while intoxicated.
For more information, please reach out to Public Information Officer, Vicki DiStefano at [email protected].
