Bayville man drove drunk with kids in vehicle, police say

Officers responding to a 911 call of an erratic driver arrested a Bayville man, charging him with felony drunken driving under Leandra’s Law after finding his two young children in the car.

Carlos Ruiz-Salazar, 33, of Bayville Avenue, was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated driving while intoxicated under Leandra’s Law, as well as two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, DWI and aggravated DWI after his arrest on Bayville Avenue in Bayville at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nassau County police said.

Ruiz-Salazar faces arraignment Tuesday in First District Court in Hempstead.

Police said officers responding to the 911 call found a black 2009 Toyota stopped on Bayville Avenue, Ruiz-Salazar “slumped over the steering wheel” and his two children, a boy, 2, and a girl, 3, in the vehicle. The children, who were not injured, were released to a relative, police said.

Leandra’s Law is named for Leandra Rosado, an 11-year-old girl who was killed when the car she was riding in, driven by a drunken driver, overturned on the West Side Highway in October 2009. The law makes it a felony, even on first offense, to drive drunk with a child under age 16 in the vehicle.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”