Nassau cops make first Leandra's Law arrest

Just hours after New Year's Eve, Nassau County police made their first arrest under Leandra's Law, the new state statute that makes it a felony to drive drunk with a child as a passenger.

Police arrested Raul Rodriguez, 30, as he drove a 2003 Nissan Pathfinder in Bellerose Village about 5:45 a.m. Friday with a 9-year-old girl in the backseat.

"The vehicle's occupants included the defendant's girlfriend and her 9-year-old daughter who were released at the scene," police said in a statement.

In addition to the felony, Rodriguez, of 65 Brooklyn Ave., Wyandanch, was charged with driving while intoxicated along with three traffic offenses, police said.

Police said Rodriguez is to be arraigned Saturday at First District Court in Hempstead.

Leandra's Law went into effect last month. It is named after 11-year-old Leandra Rosado of Manhattan, who died in an October crash on the West Side Highway in which her friend's mother was charged with drunken driving.

On the East End, Sag Harbor Village police arrested a man Friday under Leandra's Law.

Bryan M. Lizano was driving with a 0.24 blood-alcohol content and had a 3-year-old boy in the backseat, police said.

The boy's mother was also in the vehicle, Sag Harbor Sgt. Thomas Pagano said.

Lizano, 29, a craftsman who lives on Oak Road in Sag Harbor, was arraigned on $7,500 bail and sent to the Suffolk County jail, Pagano said.

Lizano was arrested about 12:41 a.m. on the Leandra's Law felony and other charges, Pagano said.

Meanwhile, Suffolk and Nassau police arrested more than 50 motorists on drunken driving charges on New Year's Eve night into Friday morning, authorities said.

Nassau police made 29 driving while intoxicated arrests from 11 p.m. Thursday through 9 a.m. Friday, Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said in a news release. Suffolk police made 28 DWI arrests, a police spokeswoman said.