Middle Island woman drove drunk with children, Suffolk cops say

A Middle Island woman was charged with driving drunk with her two 7-year-old children in East Patchogue early Saturday, police said.

Pamela Murphy, 41, was driving a 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe in the parking lot of USA Gas when she was stopped and arrested at 12:23 a.m., police said.

She was pulled over after a 911 caller reported an intoxicated driver shortly before midnight, police said.

Murphy was charged under Leandra’s Law, which 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.

Murphy was also charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, police said. The children were released into the custody of their grandmother.

Murphy is scheduled for arraignment in Saturday in First District Court in Central Islip.

By Craig Schneider

craig.schneider@newsday.comScraigo

Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.