Cops: Leandra's Law arrests at same time

A Shirley man and his friend, both driving drunk with kids as passengers, were pulled over at the same time and arrested early Tuesday in Mastic, police said.

The bizarre incident occurred at 1:10 a.m. on Montauk Highway at Barnes Road, Suffolk County police said.

Theodore Pastor, 44, of Floyd Road, Shirley, and Tracy Meurer, 34, of Hollywood Drive, Shirley, were charged with aggravated DWI under Leandra's Law, police said/

The law, enacted in 2009, makes it an automatic felony to drive while intoxicated with a child under the age of 16 in the vehicle. The law is named for 12-year-old Leandra Rosado, who was killed when the van she was traveling in with other girls attending a sleepover overturned on the Henry Hudson Parkway. The driver, the mother of one of the girls, was found to be drunk, police said.

In the case Tuesday, police said Pastor and Meurer were also charged with endangering the welfare of a child.

Police said Pastor was driving a 2005 Ford Explorer westbound on Montauk Highway, followed by Meurer in a 2003 Nisssan Sentra, when the cars were stopped by Seventh Precinct Officer Brandon Neal, who observed the pair "driving erratically."

Pastor had his 4-year-old daughter in the SUV; Meurer had Pastor's 8-year-old son in her vehicle, police said.

Neal determined both Pastor and Meurer were intoxicated and arrested both, police said. The two were scheduled for arraignment Tuesday in First District Court in Central Islip.