A 42-year-old woman has been placed under arrest after police noticed her driving erratically along the Sunrise Highway. According to police, she was observed to be speeding and weaving randomly between lanes in the early morning hours of June 22. The woman was detained in nearby Patchogue and is said to have 28 prior driver’s license suspensions.
Authorities are set to charge her with aggravated Driving While Intoxicated with a child 15 years old or younger; her 7-year-old granddaughter was a passenger in her vehicle. The woman is alleged to have falsely identified herself as her daughter when officers initiated contact.
If someone is found to have been driving while intoxicated, they can expect to face serious charges. Each DWI conviction carries a more serious penalty than the one before it. DWI first offense may be classified as a misdemeanor DWI and not require a jail sentence; on the other hand, DWI second offense just might, and is likely to mandate more strenuous fines than the earlier conviction. In the cases of aggravated DWI, the accused often faces severe criminal penalties from the beginning. When someone is convicted of felony DWI, the charge can become a permanent blight on their record that adversely impacts their quality of life for years to come.
Officers are free to use their discretion when suspecting a driver of intoxication, and cases of mistaken accusations are known to occur. In order to gauge intoxication, officers often ask drivers to submit to preliminary alcohol screenings, such as the breath test, and while refusing a breath test is technically permissible, New York’s Implied Consent law harshly penalizes those who do so. Due to the inherent complexity of DWI laws, many people charged with DWI consult with an attorney to represent their interests before the prosecution.
Source: MyFoxNY.com, “L.I. woman arrested for DWI with granddaughter in car “, Glen Wilburn, June 22, 2013
