2 Long Island Parents Charged Under Leandra’s Law in 7 Hours

By on January 8, 2013

An East End man and a Nassau County woman have been arrested for drunken driving with their children in two separate incidents seven hours apart, authorities said.

In the first case, Nassau County police said 49-year-old Phyllis Lindberg was driving eastbound on Sunrise Highway near her Massapequa home when she drifted off the roadway and struck a parked car shortly before 5 p.m. Monday, authorities said.

Lindberg and her 6-year-old daughter, who was in the vehicle with her, were taken to a local hospital for treatment of neck and back pain after the car overturned. Police said she was found to be under the influence of alcohol.

Then, shortly after midnight Tuesday, Southampton Town Police said 32-year-old Cristobal Espinoza was stopped for a failing to maintain a lane on Flanders Road in his hometown of Flanders. Espinoza failed sobriety tests and had his 8-year-old child in the vehicle, police said.

Lindberg and Espinoza were each charged with endangering the welfare of a child and driving while intoxicated with a child, a felony under Leandra’s Law.

Lindberg will be arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead and Espinoza will face his charges at Southampton Town Justice Court.

Lindberg’s daughter was released to the custody of the girl’s father. Espinoza’ s child was returned to his mother.

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Timothy Bolger Timothy Bolger (442 Posts)

Timothy Bolger is the News/Web Editor for the Long Island Press who’s been working to uncover unreported stories for the paper since shortly after it launched in 2003. When he’s not editing, getting hassled by The Man or fielding cold calls to the newsroom, he covers crime, general interest and political news daily online with longer, sometimes investigative features in the monthly print edition. He won’t be happy until everyone is as pissed off as he is about how Lawn Guyland is screwed up.