Police: Leandra’s Law arrest after driver makes illegal U-turns

A Queens man who made two illegal U-turns in Hempstead was found driving drunk and had minors in the car, police said.

Bernard Brown, 56, of Rosedale was charged with felony drunken driving under Leandra’s Law because of the presence in the car of children ages 1 and 2, Nassau County police said in a news release.

Police said officers from the Hempstead Police Department were watching when Brown, “performed two illegal U-turns, impeded traffic and violated other Vehicle and Traffic Laws” about 9:50 p.m. Wednesday on Terrace Avenue.

The children were released to the custody of an adult female who was a passenger in Brown’s Honda Civic, police said.

Nassau police said they did not know the driver’s relationship to the children.

Brown was awaiting arraignment Thursday in First District Court in Hempstead on two counts of DWI under Leandra’s Law, two counts of driving without a license, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and multiple violations, police said.

Leandra’s Law is named for 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who was killed in 2009 when a car she was riding in, operated by a drunken driver, overturned in Manhattan.

The law makes it a felony, even on first offense, to drive drunk with a passenger under age 16 in the vehicle.