A Long Island man is facing charges after Suffolk County deputies say he was driving drunk on the Long Island Expressway late Sunday with his 7-month-old baby riding in the front passenger seat, and without a car seat. The Suffolk County Sheriff's Office said the traffic stop may well have prevented a tragedy on one of the region's busiest roads.
According to the sheriff's office, deputies pulled over 44-year-old Carlos Moncado Padilla after they saw his pickup truck swerving in and out of lanes on the expressway near Exit 65 in Patchogue just before 11 p.m. What they found inside the truck, officials said, quickly turned an ordinary traffic stop into something far more alarming.
Deputies reported finding five open bottles of beer inside the vehicle. Moncado Padilla told them he had been driving from Center Moriches, according to the sheriff's office, which said the signs of impairment were apparent as the stop unfolded in the late-night hours on the busy stretch of highway.
But it was the passenger seat that drew the most concern. Officials said the 7-month-old child was lying across the front passenger seat with nothing but a seatbelt, and that there was no car seat found anywhere in the truck. The infant was not hurt, but authorities said the situation could easily have ended in disaster.
The county's undersheriff described the case in stark terms, saying that one of a parent's main responsibilities is to protect their child and that clearly did not happen here. He said the driver had shown no regard for his own child or for the other motorists sharing the roadways of Suffolk County that night.
The child's mother has since been given custody, the sheriff's office said. Moncado Padilla, meanwhile, is facing several charges, including driving while intoxicated under Leandra's Law, the New York statute that carries heightened penalties for impaired driving with a child in the vehicle.
Officials pointed to the case as a warning about the dangers of getting behind the wheel while impaired, particularly with a child on board. They credited the deputies who made the stop with likely averting a far worse outcome on the Long Island Expressway as the investigation moved into the courts.