Cops make wrong-way DWI arrest in Bellmore

A Port Washington man is at least the 15th driver in the past seven weeks to be arrested and charged with driving drunk the wrong way on a major Long Island roadway, police said Monday.

About 2:10 a.m. Monday, a medical technician driving an ambulance for the Nassau County Police Department said he saw a 2010 Toyota Corolla heading east in a westbound lane of Sunrise Highway in Bellmore.

The Toyota's driver, Evan Jay, 25, of 86 Webster Ave., then turned north - the correct direction - on the Wantagh State Parkway, Nassau police said in a report. Police said they responded to a radio call from the technician, stopped Jay on the parkway, noticed he was intoxicated and arrested him. No injuries were reported.

Jay was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated, and failure to stay in a single lane, police said. He was scheduled to be arraigned Monday at First District Court in Hempstead.

According to Nassau and Suffolk police and the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office, at least 15 people have been arrested on wrong-way DWI charges since Nov. 15, when off-duty NYPD Officer Andre Menzies, 35, of North Babylon, was killed by an accused wrong-way drunken driver on the Northern State Parkway in Dix Hills.

Nassau police have made 40 drunken-driving arrests over the New Year's holiday weekend, with 27 arrests coming between 9 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m. Saturday. Suffolk police made 31 DWI arrests from 4 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Monday. The Suffolk sheriff's office made 11 DWI arrests from 9 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Monday.

Nassau police made 29 DWI arrests from 11 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2009, to 9 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2010. Suffolk police made 28 DWI arrests from 4 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2009, to 8 a.m. last Jan. 1.