For holiday weekend, Nassau boosts DWI patrols

On the eve of what police call the year's deadliest hundred days - the summer stretch between the Memorial Day and Labor Day holidays - Nassau County officials announced increased patrols looking for drunken drivers this weekend.

"We will be out in full force," said Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey, flanked by County Executive Thomas Suozzi and District Attorney Kathleen Rice at a news conference Wednesday outside police headquarters in Mineola.

Last Memorial Day, Suozzi launched a controversial "Wall of Shame" displaying the names and mug shots of people arrested on drunken driving charges after Nassau Police Officer Kenneth Baribault was seriously injured May 18, 2008, when his car was struck by an allegedly intoxicated driver during a traffic stop on the Long Island Expressway involving another allegedly drunken driver.

After a woman charged in another case successfully sued the county on the grounds that Nassau officials were violating her constitutional rights by publicly "shaming" her on the wall before she had been convicted of any crime, the wall was modified to display only convicted drunken drivers.

This year, there will not be any new initiatives, Suozzi said, but convicted drunken drivers will continue to be displayed on the county's Web site.

Suozzi pointed to a positive trend: The number of fatalities from accidents involving alleged drunken drivers has decreased in the past two years - there were 17 fatalities in such accidents in 2007 and 13 in 2008. This year, there have been two fatalities, what Suozzi called a still "completely unacceptable number."

Rice said drunken driving is completely preventable. "Do your part to make the right choices," she urged the public.

"Drinking while driving is not a socially acceptable thing to do," Suozzi added.

Suozzi also touted the increase last year in arrests in Nassau on DWI charges. In 2007, there were 2,738 arrests on charges of driving while intoxicated, and in 2008 there were 3,544 such arrests.

So far this year there have been 1,071 such arrests, according to police records.

Suffolk County police said they also plan to increase patrols and set up checkpoints over the holiday weekend.

By SOPHIA CHANG
Posted Friday, May 22, 2009

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