Port Jeff woman drove drunk with son in SUV, police said

A Port Jefferson woman faces arraignment on felony drunken driving charges Monday after police said she crashed her sport utility vehicle into a pole in Garden City Park Sunday evening — a crash that occurred with her 6-year-old son in the vehicle.

Nassau County police said the child was uninjured and was released to the custody of a family member.

Police said Noreen A. Foster, 51, lost control of a 2009 Nissan Rogue, striking the pole at the intersection of Hillside and Tuxedo avenues just before 9 p.m., and said an investigation determined she was intoxicated.

She was charged with driving while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated under Leandra’s Law, second-degree criminal contempt and with endangering the welfare of a child. Police said the criminal contempt charge was from a previous, unrelated incident — but did not provide additional details.

Leandra’s Law is named for 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who was killed when the car she was riding in, driven by a drunken driver, overturned on the Henry Hudson Parkway in October 2009. Six other girls, who all were attending a sleepover, were also injured.

The law, enacted in November 2009, makes it a felony, even on first offense, to drive drunk with a child under age 16 in the vehicle.

Arraignment information was not available online as of late Monday.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”