Police allege a woman was driving drunk and without a license when she got into a crash at a busy intersection near the mall, all with her toddler in the back seat.
According to the Suffolk County Police Department, the suspect was driving east on Middle Country Road in a 2006 Nissan Altima on Sunday evening when she made a left turn in front of a 2014 Toyota Rav4, which had been heading west on the same road. The two vehicles collided at the Moriches Road intersection, near Smith Haven Mall.
A 2-year-old boy was in the Nissan at the time of the crash, driver Rashelle Mann’s son, police said. He was evaluated at Stony Brook University Hospital but did not appear injured, according to police. The Toyota’s driver, 20-year-old Hauppauge resident Cindy Tran, was treated at the same hospital for minor injuries.
The mother, a 26-year-old Ronkonkoma resident, was charged with driving while intoxicated and aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child passenger 15 years or younger, a charge commonly referred to as Leandra’s Law. She was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child and aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle.
Attorney information for Mann was not immediately available.
According to police, her son was released to a relative.
