Saturday, September 4, 2010

Drunk dad takes kid for ride on boardwalk

From the Daily News:

A drunken Queens dad cruised his car 30 blocks down the Rockaway Beach Boardwalk - with six kids in the back, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Renato Bernal, 41, had 1-1/2 times the legal alcohol limit when he almost hit a man on the pedestrian-only beach strip, then zoomed off Tuesday.

The Richmond Hill man was charged under the state's Leandra's Law, which makes it a felony to drive drunk with children in a car. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

"It's a miracle that no one was injured or killed," said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. Among the six kids in the car were Bernal's two daughters, 16 and 14. There were also two 7-year-old nephews.

Bernal nearly struck James Beatty who was walking on the Boardwalk near Beach 73rd St. around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to prosecutors. Cops caught him 35 blocks away at Beach 108th St., a block from the Boardwalk.

"I was not driving anywhere near the Boardwalk," he told a cop. "I didn't have anything to drink."

Prosecutors say Bernal had bloodshot eyes, booze on his breath and registered a .122 on a blood-alcohol test, way above the .08 legal limit, they say.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

They're (QUeens county/United States Government) going to go hard on him and make an example of him using this law.