Patchogue woman drove drunk with baby son in backseat, sheriff says

A Patchogue woman was arrested early Saturday on charges of driving drunk with her 10-month-old baby in the backseat, according to the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office.

Maria Carballo, 29, was stopped by deputy sheriffs after she failed to stay in lane on North Ocean Avenue, south of the Long Island Expressway, in Medford at 12:03 a.m. Saturday, the sheriff’s office said in a release.

Her 10-month-old son was released to his father and the car was impounded for evidence.

Carballo was arraigned Saturday in Suffolk First District Court in Central Islip on a felony charge of aggravated DWI with a child, and misdemeanor charges of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and endangering the welfare of a child, according to online court records.

Under Leandra’s law, it is a felony on the first offense to drive drunk with a child under age 15. The law is named after 11-year-old Leandra Rosado who was killed in 2009 while traveling in a car with the intoxicated mother of one of her friends.

The sheriff's office said in its statement that Carballo consented to a blood test, and those results are pending.

She is represented by a Legal Aid, and the office did not respond to a request for comment.

Carballo's next court date is March 31.