A New York woman was arrested on suspicion of DWI after starting a chain-reaction car accident that left a pedestrian pinned against a restaurant wall in Suffolk County on May 2. The accident occurred at approximately 4:05 p.m.
According to authorities, the 56-year-old defendant was driving her car on West Jericho Turnpike in Huntington when she tried to turn left into a McDonald’s parking lot. She struck a 2009 Chevrolet, and the impact caused that vehicle to swerve off the road and strike an 89-year-old man, pinning him to the front wall of the restaurant.
The pedestrian was transported to a local hospital with an open leg fracture and a broken clavicle. The Chevrolet driver was treated for minor injuries at the hospital and released. The defendant was taken to the hospital with injuries that were believed to be non-life threatening and later charged with driving while intoxicated. Both cars were impounded. The accident remains under investigation.
A drunk driving conviction can forever change a person’s life. The consequences could include incarceration, driver’s license suspension, heavy fines and career damage. However, a drunk driving charge doesn’t always lead to a conviction, which is why it could be advisable for a person to try and combat it with the assistance of a criminal defense attorney. There are several potential strategies that could be employed, including a challenge to the way that field sobriety tests were conducted by authorities or to the calibration of the Breathalyzer. Another one could be an assertion by the attorney that the traffic stop that led to the arrest lacked probable cause.
Source: PIX 11, “Woman arrested for DWI after crashing car, pinning man against McDonald’s in Huntington,” Katherine Lam, May 3, 2016
