News: Long Island Wrong Way Driver Arrested
(Long Island, N.Y.) A twenty-year-old man from Riverhead was arrested Sunday morning for drunk driving. He had been traveling in a blue Nissan Pathfinder along the Long Island Expressway. Police and authorities on the case found him driving the wrong way near Exit 68 in Yaphank.
Suffolk County Police Officers responded to the scene, and sources claimed that the man had been driving for three miles before being stopped by authorities. He had been driving the wrong way, traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes of the Long Island Expressway. Reports stated that he had been driving at estimated speeds of fifty miles-per-hour.
Sources claimed that responding police officers received three calls from other drivers along the Long Island Expressway. The calls began at roughly two-thirty in the morning, reporting a wrong way driver in a blue SUV. Reports stated that the young driver wouldn’t stop for authorities at the scene and was unable to stay in a single lane.
It took three patrol cars to box the driver in, forcing him to stop between exits 70 and 71 on the Long Island Expressway. He was halted near Manorville roughly fifteen minutes after calls were received reporting the incident. Sources claimed that a breathalyzer test revealed that the man had a blood alcohol level of more than two times the legal limit.
The man was arrested on the charges of aggravated driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, and unsafe lane changes. Reports stated that the driver didn’t know when he got on the Long Island Expressway. He gave no explanation and was not aware as to how he had been driving the wrong way.
Police and authorities were able to respond quickly to the calls reporting the intoxicated driver, thus preventing any possible collisions from taking place. There were no fatalities or serious injuries reported. The prevalence of wrong way drunken driving incidents has gotten many Long Islanders conscious about what can be done to ensure road safety.
The driver was arranged on Sunday afternoon at the First District Court in Central Islip. He received a bail of five thousand dollars cash and fifteen thousand dollars bond. It is uncertain as to whether he had been provided with legal aid attorneys or had employed private representation.
Statistics determined that there have been more than twenty wrong way driving cases on Long Island since last November. These figures have inspired Long Island lawmakers to propose a bill that will make wrong way drunken driving offenses a felony. The bill, which will increase the penalty of such charges passed in the Senate in March.
