DWI arrests on LI over the holiday weekend

At least 548 drivers were stopped - and seven arrested - at a Suffolk police Memorial Day sobriety checkpoint in Brentwood and nearby by a roving patrol, authorities said Sunday.

In Nassau, police arrested 20 more drivers on charges of driving while intoxicated or while ability impaired on the second night of the Memorial Day weekend, authorities said Sunday.

During the same period last year - from Saturday at 8 p.m. to Sunday at 8 a.m. - 29 drivers were arrested on the same charges, Nassau police spokesman Det. Vincent Garcia said Friday.

During the same period Friday into Saturday, 20 drivers were arrested on the charges.

The Suffolk charges against the seven filed Friday into Saturday - were either driving while intoxicated or driving while ability impaired by drugs, police said.

The checkpoint was on eastbound Suffolk Avenue at the Long Island Rail Road commuter parking lot, police say.

In addition, the checkpoint and patrol led to the arrest of one driver for marijuana possession and the seizure of another vehicle under Suffolk County's repeat DWI law.

Nassau's police commissioner, Lawrence W. Mulvey, said last week that officers would "be out in full force" over the holiday weekend.

By MATTHEW CHAYES
Posted Monday, May 25, 2009

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