Cops: Man drove drunk with 2-year-old child in vehicle

Riverhead Town Police report a Leandra’s Law DWI arrest last night on Sound Avenue in Riverhead.

Riverhead and Southold police received calls at about 7 p.m. about a vehicle failing to maintain its lane of travel westbound on Sound Avenue, according to a press release issued by Riverhead Town Police this morning.

Police said Denis Perez-Flores was charged with Driving While Intoxicated under Leandra’s Law, Endangering the Welfare of a Child and unlicensed operation. Riverhead Police did not provide the age or residence of the driver.

Perez-Flores’ 2-year-old child was a passenger in the vehicle, police said. The child was turned over to his mother, according to the report.

Leandra’s Law makes it an automatic class E felony to drive while ability impaired by drugs or alcohol with a child younger than 16 in the car.

Leandra’s Law, the Child Passenger Protection Act, went into effect in New York in December 2009. It is named in memory of 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who was killed in a car crash in Manhattan in October 2009. The driver of the vehicle carrying Leandra and seven other children was convicted of felony DWI.

Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.