Results tagged “dui”

Bowing to pressure from families of drunk driving victims, state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has thrown his support behind a bill that would make it a felony to drive with a blood alcohol content of .08 while a passenger 15 years old or under is in the car. The legislation is named for 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who recently died in a crash on the Henry Hudson Parkway while riding with her friend's allegedly drunk mother.

The woman who killed eight people, including herself, when she drove the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway vomited twice on the side of the road before the collision. Police reports obtained by the Post reveal that just under two hours before the fatal crash — witnesses "noticed an adult female outside of the vehicle with brown hair, wearing blue, knee-length shorts, bent over with her hands on her knees, as if throwing up."

Though former Fox 5 TV reporter Mike Sheehan originally said "neigh" to charges that he was drunk when he drove into a mounted police officer in March, yesterday he pleaded guilty to driving while impaired by alcohol. Sheehan drove into the horse and cop on Varick Street in Tribeca, leaving the cop with a bruised leg and the horse with cuts, bruises and scrapes; he refused to take a Breathalyzer test after the accident. In true Fox news style, Sheehan had claimed that the horse was actually to blame for colliding with him.

A young Brooklyn woman is in critical condition after being slammed into by a van driven by a drunk driver while she was walking out of work Thursday night. 22-year-old Ukranian immigrant Olga Skibina suffered severe brain, facial and lung injuries after being struck by the van while walking from the medical office she works as a receptionist at in Sheepshead Bay, walking along Avenue Z to her home in Gerritsen Beach.

The Westchester District Attorney's office announced that no charges will be filed against the husband of the woman who, while apparently drunk and high, crashed her minivan while driving the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway, killing eight people. Westchester DA Janet Fiore said, "Diane Schuler died... and the charges died with her."

No matter that the Taconic State Parkway wrong-way crash claimed 8 lives when a minivan driver, apparently drunk and high, slammed into another SUV—driving the wrong way while possibly drunk is still happening. According to the Asbury Park Press, a driver was arrested—authorities believe he was intoxicated—after causing two wrong-way accidents on the Garden State Parkway at 5:20 p.m. yesterday. The driver "was going northbound in the southbound lanes" near Hazlet, NJ. "After striking one car, the wrong-way driver hit a second vehicle in the southbound express lanes before going through the guardrail and down into a ravine. The driver of the second car is pregnant and was being treated for a minor injury."

Daniel Schuler spoke to state police yesterday for the first time since toxicology reports revealed that his wife Diane was drunk and high when she drove the wrong way in the Taconic crash that killed eight. Mr. Schuler, lawyer Dominic Barbara and a private investigator met with authorities in Westchester County still trying to nail down a timeline of Mrs. Schuler's drive. Police showed them a video of Mrs. Schuler at a Sunoco station, appearing coherent and looking for painkillers a little over an hour before she would call her brother, Warren Hance, sounding disoriented. A friend of Hance's told the Times, “His first impression was..it might be some diabetic condition...or she was having a stroke. There was no ‘Oh my God, could she be drunk?’ ” An official at the meeting with Mr. Schuler said, "No new areas were covered." The family's PI said, “The Diane that they know does not drink and would never smoke marijuana in a car with kids.” In a recent interview, Daniel Schuler's brother said that the family was aware that Mrs. Schuler used marijuana to sometimes help her sleep.

Governor Paterson introduced new legislation yesterday that would stiffen penalties for drunk drivers who get behind the wheel with children in the car. First-time offenders would be required to install devices to prevent their cars from starting and any drunk drivers who kill a child under 17 would face up to 25 years in prison. The bill proposes creating a new drunken driving charge, aggravated vehicular homicide, increasing the penalties for drivers who kill someone while drunk or on drugs.

Usually if two eighteen-year-old males are in a car that ends up in a weekend fender bender on the Jersey Shore, most would assume that the youngsters had some culpability in the accident. That's not necessarily the case when the other party involved is comedian Artie Lange. The Howard Stern Show co-host was arrested yesterday at 1:30 p.m. in Toms River for driving under the influence and careless driving after rear-ending a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am with the two teens in it. The arresting officer said that he was unsure if Lange was under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs, but that Lange was a "a perfect gentleman" throughout the incident. The former MadTV star was released a few hours later and is schedule to appear tonight at a nearby library for a reading of his new book, "Too Fat to Fish." Lange has struggled with alcohol and drug problems and recently revealed that he had been sober for over two months. Upon buying a house down at the Shore last year, other members of the Stern team believed it would "help him out with his mental state."

NJ Senate President Richard Codey, who has also been acting governor three (!) times, has introduced new legislation that would toughen penalties against motorists repeatedly caught drunk driving as well as those who lend vehicles to people with a suspended or revoked license. The Star Ledger reports, "The bills were prompted, in part, by recent reports of an East Rutherford man who injured another man and his young daughter in a DUI related accident and was later found to have 12 previous DUI convictions and 78 license suspensions." (The repeat DUI driver tried to flee the police by running into a park.) One bill would "impose mandatory jail time of six months to one year for anyone caught driving under the influence while currently suspended for a previous DUI or previous refusal to take a breath test; or for anyone caught driving two times or more while suspended for a DUI or refusal to take a breath test, even if they are not intoxicated." Codey said, "In my opinion, one time caught drunk driving is too many... If you don't learn from those mistakes and continue to endanger the lives of others, we need to send a clear message that we are going to have zero tolerance."

According to urine and blood samples tested, former Yankee Jim Leyritz apparently was not drinking earlier in the week when a Breathalyzer device installed in his car malfunctioned and said that he was. The failed test set the 1996 World Series hero off and led him to tell his wife, "Maybe it's better to end it all than go through this hassle." Leyritz's "hassle" stems from pending manslaughter chargers after running a red light and killing another driver while under the influence in 2007. Leyritz denies that he was ever considering suicide, telling the Daily News, "Aside from the pending trial I have a lot of other stress in my life. I can't provide for my family anymore. My brother-in-law has ALS, my children, friends and family are suffering." Leyritz has recently claimed that the victim of the DUI accident was the one who went through a red light and was also drunk. Last year Isiah Thomas accused police of a coverup after denying what appeared to be a suicide attempt.

A lawyer for Vito Fossella explained the former Congressman's decision to plead guilty to a May 2008 DUI, "He wanted to accept responsibility for what had occurred and he wanted to end this. He wants this behind him. He realizes it was wrong to be drinking and driving that night. He's going to get on with his life."

Former Representative Vito Fossella has pleaded guilty to drunk driving charges. Fossella, who was arrested for the DUI in Alexandria, VA last year, was originally going to appeal his conviction, but instead will face the mandatory sentence of five days in jail.

The Smoking Gun kicks off the start of the baseball season with this video from Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain's DUI arrest in his home state of Nebraska last fall. Pulled over for speeding, Chamberlain tells a cop, "I came from Florida, and obviously I play for the Yankees." The Nebraska State Trooper asked Chamberlain, whose breath allegedly smelled of alcohol (there was an open container of Crown Royal in the passenger seat), about New York, to which Joba replied, "opening a door and saying please and thank you" doesn't happen in the Big Apple and drivers tend to cut you off, "They might hit you. It's a joke." And he also revealed he once met Yogi Berra in the locker room, "I go, 'Yogi, what the fuck are you doing here?" with Berra replying, "You know what? It's too cold for my old ass to be here." After the arrest, Chamberlain apologized to fans, "I intend to properly resolve this situation, and do not intend to be in such a situation again. My goal is to focus on pitching for the Yankees in the 2009 season."

The family of Judy Bucherri are wondering why she threw herself from a speeding SUV to her death on Friday night. Bucherri had been in the car with her boyfriend Sandy Levine, who was later charged with DUI and marijuana possession (the cops found a pound of pot in the car), and inexplicably, she jumped out.

In an interview with today's Daily News, ex-Yankee Jim Leyritz talks about what a turn for the worse his life has taken since being arrested for manslaughter following a DUI accident last December. But Leyritz, the one-time hero of the 1996 World Series, was not taking full responsibility for the crash. He tells the News, "My light was never red when I entered the intersection. I was not at all responsible for the accident or her death. She went through the light. She hit me." Records show that the victim, Freida Ann Veitch, was also drunk during the accident and had been involved in another drunken crash six months prior. Leyritz's blood alcohol level was found to be 0.14. His trial is scheduled to begin January 12.

The tabloids have details on what led to Yankee pitcher Joba Chamberlain's DUI arrest over the weekend: He was at the Night Before Lounge (the Daily News calls it a "nudie bar") where someone yelled, "If you played for the Red Sox, you wouldn't be sitting here." Chamberlain was angry enough to get out of his chair, but the Post reports that "several friends intervened before the tiff escalated beyond pushing and shoving." So Chamberlain left in a huff--though generously tipped $100 on a $45 bill--only to be arrested for speeding and have a cop notice the open container of alcohol and smell alcohol on his breath (he had a 0.134 blood alcohol level, over the 0.08 limit in Nebraska). Note to Red Sox players: Don't take the bait when someone says, "If you played for Tampa Bay, you wouldn't be sitting here."

Yankee phenom Joba Chamberlain was arrested and charged with a DUI in his home state of Nebraska early Saturday morning. Chamberlain was pulled over at 1 a.m Saturday on US 77 near Lincoln, the town which he hails from as well as the home to his glory days as a star pitcher for the University of Nebraska.

A Bronx man was pulled over on the Long Island Expressway after being clocked at over 100 miles per hour while his 7-month-old son sat in the back strapped into his car seat. Hipolito Morales was arrested at around 3am on Saturday by Suffolk County Police who said he was "unsteady on his feet, had glassy eyes and his breath smelled of alcohol." The super of his Bronx building said that Morales was out on Long Island visiting family and that Morales had called him earlier to borrow money. "Probably he was upset because he lost his wallet and had a couple of drinks that night," the super said. The child was released into the custody of his mother (also in the car at the time) and child services were notified.

Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi is going to release information about everyone arrested for a DWI or DUI over this holiday weekend. Names, addresses, and mug shot photographs will be sent to local newspapers, with the request the papers print the information--all in an effort to shame people into not drinking and driving.

State Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell 4th, Democrat and son of the trailblazing Harlem politician Adam Clayton Powell Jr., was arrested for drunk driving on the upper West Side at 2:30 a.m. this morning. According to the Daily News, an unidentified woman passed out in the back of the car was so intoxicated she had to be taken to a local hospital. Powell failed a breath test at the scene by a small margin and, while at the station house, refused to take a chemical sobriety test. He faces charges punishable by up to a year in jail.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting at 104th Ave. and Remington St. in Queens, a bank robbery on Lexington Ave. and 45th St. in Manhattan, and a gas main break on Van Siclen Ave. in Brooklyn.
• Midtown Lunch considers why it was left off the positive press clippings wall of the new Goodburger.
• New York Shitty wonders about these Bed-Stuy guard dogs - they only have ten feet of leash and don't seem to have much food.

In exchange for guilty pleas on a number of charges including assault of a fan, assault of his chauffer, driving with a suspended license and DUI, rap star Busta Rhymes avoided jail time and was sentenced yesterday to 10 days of community service. Sadly, we’ll be denied the publicity circus that swirled around Boy George and Naomi Campbell during their very public community services; Rhymes will have the privilege of choosing his own method of service at a “private, court-approved location.” (Will there be an after-party?) He’ll also pay fines and court costs amounting to – yes this figure you're about to read is correct – $1,510.

in the car. Yet this is exactly what a Roosevelt man did in Hempstead last night.

Natasha Lyonne – remember her? – has resurfaced, and not at the morgue! In fact, the young hellion seems to be doing quite well for herself – at least that’s the portrait painted by this convivial Times profile, in which reporter Robert Simonson smokes Marlboro Lights with her on the roof of Theater Row, where she’s to appear in the new Mike Leigh play Two Thousand Years. Though off the horse, the actress isn’t all yoga and Celestial Seasonings – she’s quick to point out that she usually smokes Marlboro 72’s, because they’re “like something Robert Mitchum would smoke.”

Jim Leyritz, who played with the Yankees, from 1990-1996 and then again in 1999 and 2000, was arrested early Friday morning after getting in a car accident in Broward County, Florida. Thursday was Leyritz's 44th birthday and he was presumably driving his Ford Expedition home early Friday morning when witnesses said they saw him run a red light. His car hit a Mitsubishi Montero driven by 30-year-old Fredia Ann Veitch. The woman was ejected from her car during the accident and died of her injuries after being taken to a hospital. Leyritz is being charged with DUI manslaughter and DUI property damage. He was released after posting an $11,000 bond.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an injured firefighter at Ave Y and Knapp St. in Brooklyn, serious trauma at the Bryant Park ice rink in Manhattan, and a stabbing at 169th St. and Linden Blvd. in Queens.
• The New Yorker collects quotes from striking writers and their supporters regarding the strike beard phenomena. Conan O'Brien, on perhaps the only physical feature that will ever help him resemble a lumberjack: "I’m the only guy chopping wood outside his Manhattan co-op.”
• Former Yankee Jim Leyritz was arrested on suspicion of DUI and DUI manslaughter after a crash in Florida last night (Leyritz's 44th birthday), which killed the driver of the car he struck.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, a high-angle rescue on West 18th St., in Manhattan, and a multi-vehicle accident on Farmers Blvd. and the South Conduit in Queens.
• Hoboken mayor David Roberts was apparently prescient to ask how many stops his SWAT team made on the trip back north--fearing more embarrassing photos of his police force as they returned from relief efforts after hurricane Katrina. Additional pictures of misbehavior have surfaced, this time featuring the town's police chief cavorting in Louisiana.
• Brooklyn native and former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson was sentenced in an Arizona court to 24 hours in jail and three years probation for drug possession and DUI.
• The 2nd Ave. subway got a boost from $1.7 billion in federal funding earmarked for the project over the next seven years.
• New Yorkers aren't just cooler and better looking than the rest of the country, they make a lot more money. The average Manhattanite made more than $2,800 a week in the first quarter of this year.
• Former mayor Rudy Giuliani recommended securing the U.S.-Mexico border via a "virtual" system that would alert authorities of crossings.
• The Washington Post has a guide on how to get to NYC that includes more than "practice, practice, practice." It could be valuable for people wanting to get back to NYC.
• A very helpful guide to long- and short-distance runs in Brooklyn from the Brooklyn Road Runners Club.

Through some strange stroke of Manhattan Supreme Court scheduling, Ja Rule, Remy Ma, Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes all appeared in court yesterday (at different times) to face various charges. Ja Rule and Lil Wayne faced gun possession charges from separate incidents on July 22. The pair, who collaborated on a song "Uh Oh," also shared the same attorney, Stacey Richman. Richman said that Lil Wayne couldn't be guilty, because when his tour bus...

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt, who has completely covered her house in mosaic tiles.