Gothamist: 109 Nassau County DWI Arrests During Holiday Weekend

JenChungsBra

Thu, 29 May 2008 09:43:34 -0500

Wow, what a motley collection of red and glassy eyeballs. Maybe it's just the contrast, but the two bright white guys on the left look worst of all.

AlisonM

Wed, 28 May 2008 19:57:57 -0500

[20]: yeah, i thought about that, but the top half of that linked page where the pictures are hosted on nassaucountyny.gov? All text. It will show up on google. Even if it doesn't show up from that website, all these sites that are covering it will take care of that. As of right now, a google search for a randomly selected person (google the woman in the middle, bottom row) of the arrested comes up with a 1010 WINS page first, then the nassaucountyny.gov page, then a myfoxny.com page, all about this story. What if she's found not guilty? Again, I'm NOT defending drunk driving (a close friend's mom was killed by a drunk driver when she was walking home from work in nassau county), but I am defending innocent til proven guilty.

sonyactivision

Wed, 28 May 2008 19:43:26 -0500

Who will step up and adopt "wednesday's Drunk"?

midtown

Wed, 28 May 2008 18:06:23 -0500

I used to defend drunk drivers. Most pleaded guilty, some went to trial and were acquitted - usually on a constitutional violation or a technical issue with the equipment (failure to calibrate, etc.). EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM WAS LOADED AND DRIVING. Shame them...it is legal and if it makes people hesitate to drive drunk, then its worth it.

matty

Wed, 28 May 2008 18:01:21 -0500

"BRAVO NYC!!" You mean Nassau County?

pabo76

Wed, 28 May 2008 17:55:32 -0500

Judging from the mugshot sample, I think the lesson here is, "Don't drive drunk while brown in Nassau County."

jterry121

Wed, 28 May 2008 17:28:55 -0500

Once you've been arrested for Drunk Driving youre almost 100% guilty - the cops make you use a Breathalyzer and run 20 other tests to make sure youre drunk, not to mention the people in the pics all have red faces and bloodshot eyes. These people are already all guilty, so stop crying that the paperwork hasnt been filed yet. If this prevent even 1 person from dying in a drunk driving incident, its more than worth it. BRAVO NYC!!

dhn

Wed, 28 May 2008 17:21:53 -0500

Gothamist can do what it likes, but I think Dave's being disingenuous. The entry has the quote in bold: "we're going to try and add other techniques, like embarrassing you." No ambiguity there. These folks haven't been found guilty yet - and there is nothing news worthy about their names or the crime. The sole goal providing the names and photos is to embarrass them - simple as that. p.s. Google does OCR in a bunch of places. The software is called Tesseract OCR.

EricRoberts

Wed, 28 May 2008 16:49:23 -0500

I think Stephen H Mullaney should get a discount since he has fetal alcohol syndrome.

matty

Wed, 28 May 2008 16:35:00 -0500

A lot of these people will have their cases dropped. It's unfair to do this.

drewo

Wed, 28 May 2008 16:28:01 -0500

Dave #20 - see the NY Times explanation: "...publishes the names of people accused of crimes only if the crime itself or the prominence of the person accused makes it news in our judgment." That would apply to the Sean Bell case and the Fossella case. But not these folks.

lanciano

Wed, 28 May 2008 16:21:36 -0500

well said, Hogarty.

jaja007

Wed, 28 May 2008 16:19:44 -0500

With the exception of Davis, Ghraham and Mullaney, - the rest of them are probably illegal alien scum who deserve to be deported back to their shithole of origin.

jaja007

Wed, 28 May 2008 16:15:42 -0500

It's shameful enough just being a Long Islander..

Dave Hogarty

Wed, 28 May 2008 16:13:53 -0500

[19] As far as I know, Google doesn't have optical character recognition as a feature of its search capabilities, which is what it would take to search the names that are part of a the picture file above. The Nassau County site actually published the names. Any google on any of the names above would not lead to the Gothamist entry. It's interesting that this is the first time I've heard such concern about mugshots. People didn't seem to care that Gothamist published the names and ID photos of the 4 cops charged in the Sean Bell shooting, before or after they were found not guilty. And Rep. Vito Fossella's bleary-eyed mugshot fits right in with Suozzi's list. He's challenging the charges against him due to faulty equipment. There is an assumption of innocence before proven guilt in the U.S., but I've never heard of a guarantee of anonymity when one is charged with a crime. Perhaps this has to do with people's ambivalence over drunk driving--no harm, no foul until someone plows into oncoming traffic and kills people?

AlisonM

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:57:44 -0500

"I understand the arguments against publishing mugshots, but how is this different from mobsters being trotted out for a perp walk?" You can't google a perp walk. The internet is FOREVVVERRRRR. I'm all for people who drive drunk getting what's due to them, but this is ridiculous. Convict them, then shame them.

Jen Chung

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:50:56 -0500

We're identifying them as arrestees of a DWI. I'll add that they'll be headed to court to argue the charges and are innocent until proven guilty, but we've published mugshots of people suspected (and not yet convicted) of different crimes. I understand the arguments against publishing mugshots, but how is this different from mobsters being trotted out for a perp walk? And Hofstra Law Professor Robin Charlow told Newsday that Suozzi's actions were constitutional, "We want to use the criminal law to deter others from committing crimes. Shaming individuals -- which Suozzi is attempting -- serves the same function."

Kevin Bracken

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:47:12 -0500

> There once was a phrase - innocent until proven guilty. ...And it says it on the link page, RTFA.

JacqueMehoff

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:42:27 -0500

actually fossella had glassy eyes in his mugshot, too. how is this any different than a police blog? or, the smoking gun. (which I'm beginning to hate as much as TMZ and Fox's red eye)

whatstheproblem

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:41:51 -0500

Shamar has definitely been sobbing. Boo hoo.

JGNY

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:36:59 -0500

Sorry gothamist but this is wrong of you to do. Suozzi gave each press outlet the choice to publish these photo's as part of a ridiculing campaign, appearently you chose to be okay with that. By doing so you are telling the public that these people are guilty before a conviction in a court of law.

anarekey

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:36:49 -0500

Not to be a turd in a punchbowl, but doesn't anyone have a problem with the state posting these people's pictures before they're even convicted of anything?

drewo

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:36:17 -0500

Is there a chance, however slight, that some of these folks arrested will be found not guilty of these charges. Perhaps owing to faulty testing equipment or a mistake by arresting officers - there is a possibility that at least one of these folks is not guilty as charged. However, Nassau County has already declared all these people guilty - and shouted it out to the world! There once was a phrase - innocent until proven guilty.

Politburo

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:33:55 -0500

None of them learned anything from Tom DeLay, did they.

Rocknrope

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:25:54 -0500

Shamar looks like he's done abit of weeping.

mihow

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:18:20 -0500

BRAVO! Wow, what a great idea. I agree, post them on billboards! Put them on the back of bathroom doors at bars. Everywhere.

Kevin Bracken

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:18:11 -0500

While I don't usually condone public shaming for other crimes, especially sex offenses years after you've done your time, but this is simply amazing. When you drive drunk, you totally deserve what you get. They do look pretty ugly, although mug shots never look good.

donner

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:13:30 -0500

This is awesome... The should put them on billboards!

smitty

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:07:19 -0500

I love "Faces of Meth"!

lanciano

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:05:38 -0500

That is excellent. I wish every county would do this. Of course, I'm sure it won't be long until this becomes a badge of honor.

edEx

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:05:03 -0500

Ya could haver fooled me. I thought it was a portfolio for the ugliest on Long Island.

jibbly

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:04:47 -0500

Jacque - United Colors of Bennetton of drunks?

sinisterteashop

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:00:36 -0500

Drunkards are the new Pedophiles.

JacqueMehoff

Wed, 28 May 2008 14:53:23 -0500

wow, it's the United Nations of drunks. (how I hate the term UN to describe diversity)