Police: Woman drove drunk with kids in car

A Garden City woman faces a felony drunken driving charge under Leandra's Law after rear-ending another car on the Meadowbrook State Parkway Wednesday in Carle Place, State Police said Thursday.

Mary McDonagh, 48, was driving a Chevrolet north on the parkway with her two children, ages 9 and 11, on Wednesday when she hit a Mercedes at about 7:30 p.m., police said.

Troopers dispatched to the accident, near the Northern State Parkway exit, said McDonagh had "a strong odor of alcoholic beverage."

She failed sobriety tests and was arrested on DWI charges, police said. She also gave a breath-analyzer sample of .16 percent, according to a news release.

McDonagh is charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated, a felony, and endangering the welfare of a child and was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday at First District Court in Hempstead.

Under Leandra's Law, passed in November 2009, drivers who are intoxicated or impaired by drugs with a child younger than 16 in the vehicle can be charged with a felony.

The law was passed after the death of Leandra Rosado, 11, who was killed in a DWI accident after the minivan in which she was a passenger crashed on West Side Highway in Manhattan.