Man drove drunk with children in car, police say

A Uniondale man was arrested on drunken driving charges under Leandra’s Law early Monday in Uniondale, Nassau police said.

Officers observed James St Clair, 40, of Coleridge Road, driving a 1996 Honda Accord with his 12-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son in the back seat about 2:40 a.m., police said in a news release. The car was traveling south on Brookside Avenue and failed to signal at the intersection of Pine Street, police said. The officers pulled St Calir over and they found that St Clair had the odor of alcohol on his breath, as well as slurred speech and glassy eyes, police said.

St Clair was arrested without incident. The children were released to their mother who was a front seat passenger, police said.

No injuries were reported.

St Clair is charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated (child under 16-Leandra’s Law), aggravated unlicensed operation/alcohol or drugs, endangering the welfare of a child, driving while intoxicated, operating motor vehicle by an unlicensed driver and numerous vehicle and traffic law infractions.

He is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday in First District Court in Hempstead.

Leandra's Law is named for 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who was killed when the car she and six other girls attending a sleepover party overturned and crashed on the Henry Hudson Parkway in October 2009. The law makes it a felony, even on first offense, to drive while intoxicated with a child under age 16 in the vehicle.