Avoid a DWI, police warn, and call for a cab
Officials are urging those drinking on New Year's Eve to take a taxi home. Credit: Handout
End the night in a cab, or end the night in a police car.
That's the message from Nassau officials to anyone planning to knock a few back at a local bar or restaurant this New Year's Eve.
Warning that extra police patrolling the roads will be on the lookout for telltale signs of drunken driving and that bartenders will take keys from people who don't have a safe ride home, officials are urging revelers to call a cab - free of charge - if they need one.
"We will arrest you, and you will spend the night on a hard wooden bench in a cell in Mineola. Then we will put you in the hands of the district attorney. And those are hands you don't want to be in," Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said at a news conference in Mineola with District Attorney Kathleen Rice and County Executive Edward Mangano.
Police in both Nassau and Suffolk say they will be out in force Friday night. Nassau will add officers to target routes they expect many drunken drivers to use, especially roads near bars and restaurants. Suffolk will increase patrols as well, deploying its DWI safety team and Stop DWI patrols.
"We'll be using all our resources to combat drunk driving tonight," said Deputy Insp. Christopher Bergold, who works in the office of Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer.
Police and other officials in both counties are encouraging anyone who finds himself or herself away from home and under the influence on New Year's Eve to call a cab.
In Nassau, a number of taxi companies will offer free rides home and free rides back to people's cars on New Year's Day. In Suffolk, one company, Islandia-based Lindy's Taxi, will provide free rides to anyone who needs one, police said.
In addition, a Nassau group, Restaurants Against Drunk Driving, has encouraged individual restaurant and bar owners to provide free town cars to patrons Friday night, said the group's president, Brian Rosenberg.
Rosenberg said his restaurant, Sugar Dining Den and Social Club in Carle Place, also will provide a bus to take bar-hoppers from one bar or club to another on main thoroughfares including Hempstead Turnpike and Old Country Road.
Deena Cohen, president of the Long Island Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, urged people to give friends and family members rides Friday night if they need them.
"You could get a call from a loved one saying 'Come and get me,' you could get a call from the police saying your loved one has been arrested, or you could get a call saying your loved one is dead," she said. "Which call would you want to get?"
Revelers in need of a ride home tonight can call to get a taxi free of charge.
In Nassau: 516-326-9090
In Suffolk: 631-265-2727
(Lindy's Taxi)
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