On 06/19/22 at approximately 11:02 p.m., Suffolk County Deputy Sheriffs stopped a car on Nichols Road near Patchogue Holbrook Road for failure to maintain lane.
The driver, Jean Louissaint, 40, of Bayport, NY, was found to be intoxicated. Two children, Louissaint's 9 year-old son and 7 year-old daughter were passengers in the vehicle.
Louissaint was arrested for DWI and transported to the Sheriff’s Office Enforcement Bureau for chemical testing where he refused to consent to a blood test. The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office was contacted and assisted Deputy Sheriffs in obtaining a blood warrant to test the defendant's BAC.
At the scene, the vehicle was impounded and the custody of the children was turned over to their adult stepbrother. After the blood warrant was obtained, blood was drawn by the Suffolk County Medical Examiner. The blood was then transported to the Crime Lab and is pending analysis.
Leandra’s Law (the Child Passenger Protection Act) is a NYS law making it an automatic felony on the first offense to drive drunk with a person age 15 or younger inside the vehicle. It was named after 11 year-old Leandra Rosado who was killed on the Henry Hudson Parkway on October 11, 2009, when she was the passenger in a car accident, driven by a driver who was allegedly driving while intoxicated.
Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. commends his deputies. “Suffolk County Deputy Sheriffs are out patrolling our county’s roads to keep the public safe. In this case, they not only prevented an intoxicated driver from causing an accident with another driver or a pedestrian, but they potentially saved the life of two children in the vehicle. I am proud of their ongoing vigilance in protecting the residents of Suffolk County.”
