Cops: 2 DWI drivers in crashes on Southern

A Hempstead woman faces a drunken driving charge after crashing her car into a tree Friday morning off the Southern State Parkway in North Valley Stream, leaving a passenger critically injured, state police said.

Troopers driving east on the parkway near Exit 14, Fletcher Avenue, at about 1:08 a.m. saw a black Nissan in the woods off the right shoulder, according to a report.

The driver and her passenger were trapped inside the car and had to be extricated by emergency services workers, the report said.

The driver, Patrice Myers, 25, of 6 Washington Ct., admitted to drinking alcoholic beverages, police said. Both Myers and her passenger, Ronell Jones, 27, of Rosedale, were transported to Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, police said.

Jones is listed in critical but stable condition, police said, but did not elaborate further on his injuries. Myers was treated for "non-life-threatening injuries," police said.

Myers was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and traffic violations. Arraignment information was not immediately available.

Also on Friday, a Valley Stream man who rolled over his vehicle on the Southern State in Baldwin faces a drunken driving charge, police said.

Troopers responded to a report of an overturned vehicle on the eastbound lanes of the parkway, near Exit 20, Grand Avenue, at about 5:10 a.m., according to a report.

As they interviewed the driver, Westley Chalvire, 30, of 6 S. Frank St., troopers smelled "a strong odor of alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath," the report said.

Chalvire failed sobriety tests and was arrested, police said. He also recorded a breath-analyzer reading of 0.17 percent, police said.

His charged with driving while intoxicated and several traffic violations and was scheduled to appear Jan. 7 at First District Court in Hempstead.