On Friday night, NJ man was arrested on drunk driving charges after the authorities received numerous calls about "erratic driving" from a Volvo on Route 440. When a Port Authority police officer intercepted him near Outerbridge Crossing, Stuart Stott allegedly admitted to having five or six drinks at the Pinstripe Bowl. And the police officer also found Stott's four-year-old son in the backseat. Fortunately, no one was injured. more ›

Convicted drunk drivers may not be able to merely scrap their cars to avoid an ignition interlock breathalyzer and the long arm of the law. A new bill would require those convicted of DWI who don't install the devices to wear alcohol-detection anklets. The bill comes after Daily News reported that only 21% of those recently convicted of DWI in the city install the mandatory devices. A third of DWI-convicted drivers statewide comply with the law. "We believe many of them feel they can simply wait it out for six months," Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice tells the paper. more ›

Last August the state passed a law requiring even first time DWI offenders to outfit their cars with breathalyzer-triggered ignition locks for a minimum of six months. So congratulations to Oscar Cabeza, who yesterday became the first person in the city [pdf] indicted for not installing the device! What does he win? Oh, up to four years in prison. more ›

Today, Carmen Huertas was sentenced to four to 12 years for a drunk driving crash that killed an 11-year-old girl. The father of victim Leandra Rosado, whose death resulted in a new law that makes it a felony to drive while intoxicated with a passenger 15 years or younger in the car, told the judge, "My daughter is looking down at us right now... Don't let her death be in vain. I promised always to protect my daughter and I feel I failed her... Don't let us down." more ›

And this is why we have Leandra's Law. A Westchester mom has been charged with four counts of DWI after crashing into a tree in Newburgh last night. Police said she had a blood alcohol content three times the legal limit, and had four children, ages four, five, six and 18-months, in the back seat. The woman, Michelle Reyes, is being held on $25,000 bond. The children, all thankfully safe after the accident, are with their grandparents. Last month, a Staten Island man was busted for driving with a blood alcohol content of .14 with his 3- and 7-year-old kids in the car. He faces up to four years in prison. more ›

A Queens dad was arrested this week under Leandra's Law after cruising down the pedestrian-only Rockaway Beach Boulevard completely drunk with six kids in tow. Doesn't he know one should always hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach? more ›

A Staten Island man was busted for speeding drunk over the Verrazano Bridge with two kids in his backseat, making him the first person in the borough to face the new Leandra's Law punishments. Rudy Caba was driving his wife and two stepchildren, ages 3 and 7, home from a party early yesterday morning, and was pulled over for driving 73 mph. Police found an empty beer bottle in the car, and Caba blew a .14 on a breathalyzer test. more ›

The second part of Leandra's Law is going into effect today, forcing anyone convicted of a DWI to install a device in their car that would require them to pass a breathalyzer test before driving. If a BAC of .025 or over is detected, the ignition locks. Don Prudente, the owner of DriveSafe Ignition Interlock of New York, says, "It's so sensitive, it picks up what they did the night before. It picks up their hangover." Drivers also must pay for the devices out of their own pockets. more ›

Last October, Carmen Huertas was driving a car packed with her daughter and her daughter's friends up the West Side Highway when she lost control and flipped the car over Besides many of the children being injured, 11-year-old Leandra Rosado died and it was discovered that Huertas' blood alcohol level was one-and-a-half times the legal limit. Now Huertas is expected to plead guilty to second-degree manslaughter today. more ›

Another day, another Leandra's Law arrest: Suffolk County police say that Shawndell Wilder was driving while intoxicated in Huntington Station—with his girlfriend's one-year-old child in the backseat. And apparently Wilder's license has been suspended 18 times in the past. And his girlfriend admitted to police that she knew he was drinking before driving. more ›

A panicked 13-year-old girl made repeated calls to 911 Sunday night to report her mother for drunk driving on I-84. The girl called for help from the confines of Jamie Hicks's green Buick, telling the dispatcher that her mom was drunk and was swerving into other lanes. WCBS reports, "The dispatcher heard lots of screaming and yelling and said the girl claimed her mom was hitting her, and there were multiple hang-ups." But you've got to expect that when you narc out mommy for being boozy behind the wheel. more ›

"I have a message for those people who think it's OK to drink and drive: the party's over people," says Lenny Rosado, the father of an 11-year-old New York girl killed in a DWI crash on the West Side Highway last year. A law passed in her name, "Leandra's Law," made it a felony to drive drunk in New York with a child younger than 16 in the car. But prosecutors have been hamstrung by a loophole requiring the defendant's blood to be drawn with a doctor present. more ›

A Staten Island mother is accused of driving under the influence with her children in the car — but her lawyer claims she wasn't the one behind the wheel. Jennifer Rivas, 25, apparently lost control of her Nissan Maxima on Wednesday at around 11:10 pm and smashed her car into a storage container off of South Avenue. more ›

Yesterday, Carmen Huertas appeared in court for the first time since overturning her car, injuring herself and her many young passengers (including her daughter), and killing her daughter's 11-year-old friend in October. Huertas, who faces vehicular manslaughter and DWI charges, had only appeared via a video link when she was initially charged, because she was still recovering from her injuries. Her lawyer said she remains a psychiatric ward and wants to kill herself, "She's tried to place objects around her neck," adding that she's an "emotional wreck." more ›

Though Governor Paterson signed the nation's toughest DWI bill into law this week, making it a felony to drive drunk with a passenger under age 15, it won't apply to one man who allegedly broke it yesterday. Suffolk County police arrested Ivan Llaghza for DWI and endangering the welfare of a child, because his 5-year-old daughter was also in the car—and not in a car seat, as required by law. The Daily News notes the new law "doesn't take effect until next month," adding that Llaghza's daughter "survived two brushes with death" before—her birth weight was 1.5 pounds and "when she was just 3 months old, she was almost killed by loss of oxygen during an apnea attack." more ›

Something crazy happened in Albany this week: The Assembly passed a bill, then the Senate passed their version of the bill, and then Governor David Paterson signed it into law—all in two days! Yesterday New York instituted the nation's toughest drunk driving law, making it a felony to drive intoxicated with a passenger 15 years old or under. The bill, "Leandra's Law," was named for the 11-year-old New York girl killed in a DWI crash on the West Side Highway last month. At the signing yesterday, Leandra's father Lenny Rosado vowed to take his crusade to Washington and pass the law on the federal level:

From here on, those that think it’s OK to drink and drive - with children in the car or not - will pay the price...This is not going to be where I stop. I'm going to go out there to as many people as I can and educate them about this terrible disease we have out there...and hopefully we can take it all the way up straight to the White House.

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. more ›

Governor Paterson will ask legislators to pass "Leandra's Law," which would make driving drunk with a passenger under 16 a felony. Last month, 11-year-old Leandra Rosado was killed when her friend's allegedly drunk mother crashed on the West Side Highway. Governor Paterson's spokeswoman said, "Gov. Paterson is committed to stricter penalties for drunk drivers with children in the car, which is why he introduced a program bill on this issue on Aug. 13." The Daily News notes, "Though Paterson announced the bill in August, no one in the Legislature has even introduced it." more ›