Cops target drunken drivers over holiday

People who drive drunk on Labor Day weekend could find themselves in handcuffs, Long Island officials warned Thursday.

"Think before you drink," Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said during a news conference in which he said police officers plan to redouble their efforts to arrest drunken drivers who get behind the wheel.

Suffolk County officials said they would be deploying officers to the roadways and waterways and setting up checkpoints.

"If you are going to drink and operate a car or boat, you will be arrested," said the Suffolk County police commissioner, Richard Dormer. "Officers will be extra vigilant in their efforts to arrest those who choose to put others in danger by violating these laws."

In Nassau last Labor Day there were 68 DWI arrests, acting police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter said. Comparable Suffolk statistics weren't immediately available.

The Coast Guard will also be out on the waters patrolling for people who operate boats and other vessels while intoxicated, the Coast Guard said in a news release. Additionally, the Coast Guard warned, floodwaters from Irene mean "boaters and paddlers need to be particularly careful this weekend."

Mangano appeared Thursday outside county police headquarters in Mineola next to a painted sedan: half was a police cruiser and the other half, a yellow taxicab. The car symbolized the choice intoxicated people face when deciding whether to drive after drinking. Nearby was a taxi to remind people who drink to consider taking a cab or using a designated driver.

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At the news conference, the loved ones of people killed in drunken driving crashes also made personal appeals to potential drunken drivers.

"Don't put anyone else into the hell that we're in!" said Al Ekberg, whose son, 32, was killed in 1991 after hitching a ride from a party with a driver who turned out to be drunk.