State Police: Drunken driver had loaded gun in truck on Southern State

A traffic stop turned into a drunken driving and weapons possession arrest after State Police stopped a pickup truck driven by an Islip woman Monday night on the Southern State Parkway.

Police said Susan Vassilev-Gugliotti, 67, failed field sobriety tests after the stop east of Exit 33, Route 109, in East Farmingdale just after 10:30 p.m. -- testing positive for a blood-alcohol content of 0.21 percent.

The legal threshold for drunken driving in New York is 0.08 percent.

After the arrest, police said, a trooper found a loaded handgun inside the pickup driven by Vassilev-Gugliotti.

Police said the trooper was dispatched for a report of a tan pickup truck being driven erratically near Exit 31, Bethpage Parkway. The trooper located the pickup just east of Route 109. During the stop, police said, Vassilev-Gugliotti "kept attempting to walk back to her passenger side door," but was stopped.

After she was detained, the trooper discovered the loaded handgun, police said.

Vassilev-Gugliotti faces charges of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, driving while intoxicated and traffic violations.

Arraignment details were not immediately available.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”