Crackdown on drunken driving begins

Nassau and Suffolk police will be out in force this Thanksgiving weekend to crack down on drunken driving, they said Wednesday.

Nassau County officials were joined at a news conference by Deena Henderson, 35, whose brother, Jason Shein, 21, was killed by a drunken driver the day after Thanksgiving three years ago.

Shein, who grew up in Levittown, had been home visiting from the University of Miami when the car he was in was hit in Farmingdale. Henderson, of Massapequa, said she and her parents would spend this holiday as they have since Shein's death -- trying to forget it's Thanksgiving.

"We don't do Thanksgiving anymore," she said. Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said 50 additional patrol vehicles will be on the roads over the next few days.

"Think before you drink," he said. "You do not want to end up in a police car. Take a taxi. Get a designated driver."

Those who drink and drive "will be putting everybody at risk," acting Nassau police Commissioner Tom Krumpter said. "It will not be tolerated."

Suffolk County announced a five-week plan -- from Thanksgiving Eve through New Year's Day -- geared toward targeting intoxicated or impaired drivers.

The county will also enhance patrols at malls and shopping centers on Black Friday and through the holiday shopping season.

Nassau police made 71 driving while intoxicated arrests last Thanksgiving; Suffolk made 69.

Also at the Nassau news conference was Michael Tangney of Long Beach, whose 7-year-old great-niece, Katie Flynn, was killed when the limousine in which she was riding was hit by a drunken driver driving the wrong way on the Meadowbrook Parkway in 2006.

Tangney, 55, said, "Preventing drunken driving is a responsibility we all have."