Cops: Mastic dad drove on drugs; kids in car

A Mastic father faces a felony charge of driving while impaired by drugs under Leandra's Law after deputies arrested him Sunday at a checkpoint in Yaphank with his three children in the car, according to the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office.

Robert Rocco, 37, was among about a half-dozen arrests made by deputies at the checkpoint, at Exit 68 of the Long Island Expressway, as eastbound traffic exited to travel north and south on the William Floyd Parkway, Chief of Staff Mike Sharkey said.

The checkpoint started just after 10 p.m., as the Super Bowl was ending, Sharkey said.

Rocco was driving with his three children as passengers. He is charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, police said. Arraignment information was not immediately available.

Sharkey said the children were picked up by a family member. He did not have more information.

Under Leandra's Law, passed in November 2009, the charge is a felony. The law was passed after the death of Leandra Rosado, 11, who was killed in a drunken-driving accident after the minivan in which she was a passenger crashed on West Side Highway in Manhattan.

"Normally, a checkpoint goes for about four hours," Sharkey said. "So this was pretty productive."

In addition to the felony drunken-driving charge, other arrests included two for DWAI drugs, another for DWI alcohol and one for driving under a suspended license, Sharkey said.