Merrick woman was high, crashed with kids in car, police say

A Merrick woman was high on prescription drugs and driving with her two children as passengers when she crashed her car Monday in Merrick, Nassau County police said.

Kathryn Naccari, 37, of Meadowbrook Road, violated Leandra’s Law and faces felony charges of driving while her ability was impaired by drugs, two counts of aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child 15 years old or younger as a passenger and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Police said Naccari was driving a 2013 Honda Accord south on Babylon Road at about 1:43 p.m. and collided with another vehicle as she tried to make a left turn onto Merrick Road.

When she hit the 2010 GMC Acadia, her daughter, 4, and son, 2, were passengers in her car, each secured in a safety seat, police said.

The driver of the Acadia was taken to a hospital for back injuries; the children, who were not injured, were released to a family member at the scene, according to a news release.

A police spokeswoman Tuesday said it was not immediately clear what drugs Naccari had taken or whether the prescription was hers.

Under Leandra’s Law, passed in 2009, drivers who are intoxicated or impaired by drugs with a child 15 years or younger in the vehicle can be charged with a felony. The law was passed after the death of Leandra Rosado, 11, who was killed Oct. 11, 2009, in a DWI accident after the minivan in which she was a passenger crashed on West Side Highway in Manhattan.

Naccari is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday at First District Court in Hempstead.