Cops: Arrests launch Labor Day weekend DWI crackdown

Suffolk County's Labor Day weekend crackdown on intoxicated drivers began early Friday when three people were charged with drunken driving at a Huntington Station checkpoint, police said.

Between 12:45 a.m. and 3 a.m. Second Precinct officers charged three drivers with DWI at a sobriety checkpoint at New York Avenue and Church Street, police said.

In a little more than two hours, 71 drivers passed through the checkpoint, police said.

The arrests came hours before County Executive Steve Bellone and Police Commissioner Edward Webber were to hold a news conference announcing the county crackdown, involving extra patrols targeting drunken drivers, which runs until Tuesday morning.

In addition to Second Precinct officers, the checkpoint also included officers from the First and Third precincts and the Highway Patrol SAFE-T Section, police said.

Arrested on DWI charges at the checkpoint were:

Jonathan Rovet, 25, of 28 Lieper St., Huntington Station

Daniel Ragone, 26, of 179 Cayuga Ave., Deer Park

William Jenkins, 34, of 39 Lantern St., Huntington

Each is scheduled to be arraigned Friday at First District Court in Central Islip.

Bellone and Webber are scheduled to be at a late-morning news conference to announce the crackdown, which includes the police department's Marine Bureau being on the lookout for intoxicated boaters.

Suffolk Sheriff Vincent DeMarco also said that increased enforcement from his deputies on Sunrise Highway and the Long Island Expressway will begin Friday and extend through Tuesday.

Nassau County police also are expected to announce a weekend enforcement initiative Friday, a spokesman said.