Cops: Selden woman drove drunk with kids in car

A Selden woman was arrested late Saturday night in Holtsville after police said she was driving drunk with her two young children in the car.

Jennifer L. Mintz, 38, of Sable Drive, was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated under Leandra's Law, as well as with aggravated DWI and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, Suffolk County police said.

Police said Mintz had her 6-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter in the car when officers stopped her 2004 Hyundai on northbound Nicolls Road at 11:16 p.m. Saturday.

The children were unharmed, police said. They were released to the custody of grandparents and police said a notification was made to Child Protective Services.

Mintz was scheduled for arraignment Sunday in First District Court in Central Islip.

Police said officer William Hauser of the Highway Patrol's Selective Alcohol Fatality Enforcement Task Force saw the Hyundai driven by Mintz "moving erratically" on Nicolls Road south of the Long Island Expressway and pulled her over.

During his investigation, police said Hauser "determined that she was operating her motor vehicle in an intoxicated condition." She was arrested at 11:32 p.m., police said.

Under Leandra's Law, a driver faces a mandatory felony, even on first offense, if found to be operating a motor vehicle with a passenger younger than 16 in the vehicle.

The law is named for Leandra Rosado, 11, who was killed when a van she was riding in with friends overturned in October 2009 on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Manhattan. Police determined the driver, Carmen Huertas, was drunk while she was driving Rosado and six other girls to a sleepover. The legislation was signed into law by Gov. David A. Paterson in November 2009. Huertas was later sentenced to 12 years in prison.