Woman drove drunk with 9-month-old son, crashed car in Holtsville, Suffolk police say
A Farmingville woman was arrested Wednesday after police said she crashed into a pickup truck stopped at a light while driving drunk with her nine-month-old son in her Jeep.
Danielle Smith, 35, was charged with driving while intoxicated, aggravated DWI under Leandra's Law, endangering the welfare of a child and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. She was held overnight at the Fourth Precinct and faces arraignment Thursday in First District Court in Central Islip.
It was not immediately clear if she was represented by counsel.
Suffolk County police said Smith was driving her 2016 Jeep Liberty westbound on Barretts Avenue in Holtsville, her infant son in the vehicle, when she attempted to turn north onto Waverly Avenue. She instead crashed into a southbound 2020 Chevrolet Silverado that was stopped for the red light. The crash occurred at 11:11 p.m, police said.
Police said the driver of the Silverado, identified as Doug Viola, 25, of Holbrook, was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatement of minor injuries.
Smith and her son were not injured, police said.
Leandra's Law is named for 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who was killed in October 2009 when the car she was riding in with six other girls attending a sleepover overturned on the West Side Highway. The driver, Carmen Huertas, was drunk and later pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison.
The law makes it a felony, even on first offense, to drive drunk with a child under age 16 in the vehicle.
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.”
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