Cops: Bellport dad charged with DWI had two young kids in car

A Bellport man was arrested and charged with aggravated DWI under Leandra’s Law after police said he was stopped for driving erratically Tuesday evening in Bellport and then found to be intoxicated — with his two young children in the vehicle.

Dayven Alonso, 33, was also charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and driving while intoxicated following the stop on Bell Street at 7:35 p.m., Suffolk County police said.

Police said that Alonso was driving his 2008 Jeep on Bell Street, near Bellport Lane, was he was stopped by Fifth Precinct patrol officer Bryan Lawrence. After initiating the traffic stop, Lawrence administered sobriety tests and Alonso failed them, police said.

The two children, aged 3 and 5, were not injured during the incident and were released to family members.

Alonso is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday in First District Court in Central Islip.

Leandra’s Law is named for 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who was killed when the car she was riding in, driven by the mother of a friend who was hosting a sleepover party, crashed and overturned on the Henry Hudson Parkway in October 2009.

Six other girls were injured.

The law, which took effect in November 2009, 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.”