Police: Two Men Drove Drunk With Children As Passengers

State police in Westchester issued more than 100 tickets this weekend during speeding and DWI details -- and arrested two drivers on felony charges for allegedly driving drunk while children were riding as passengers.

Leandra's Law was passed in late 2009 in response to a series of high-profile fatal accidents in which children were killed. The law is named for 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who was killed when she was riding in a car with a drunk family friend at the wheel. Under the new law, drunk drivers who have children in the car will be charged with felony DWI, regardless of whether or not they have prior DWI convictions. Previously, drivers were typically charged with felony DWI only if they had a prior DWI conviction on record.

In Bedford, state police at Somers arrested 43-year-old Cesar Martinez, who stopped along the shoulder of I-684 on July 5 after one of his front tires went flat. Troopers who stopped to assist Martinez, of New Rochelle, realized he had been drinking and administered field sobriety tests, which Martinez failed.

Police say Martinez had a one-year-old boy in the back seat. Martinez was charged with felony DWI under Leandra's Law after a breath test revealed a blood alcohol level of .12, well above the legal limit. Police called the child's mother while Martinez was brought back to the state police barracks.

In Cortlandt, 45-year-old Jose Duque was arrested on July 4 and was also charged under Leandra's Law. Police say Duque had two children, a nine-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, in the car with him as he was driving drunk. Police arrested Duque, of Jefferson Valley, for felony DWI after initially stopping him for traffic violations.

State police conducted "saturation patrols" throughout the weekend -- a July 4 detail on the Taconic State Parkway in Westchester County yielded 39 tickets for violations like speeding and driving without a seatbelt; a similar detail in Cortland resulted in 64 tickets issued to drivers taking local roads; a detail on the Sprain Brook Parkway resulted in 48 tickets for drivers.