Thread: NY: Drunken Illegal drove wrong way for 6 miles on Taconic!

Cops: Drunken Ossining man drove wrong way for 6 miles on Taconic

Gary Stern and Terence Corcoran
gstern@lohud.com

MOUNT PLEASANT - State police believe that a 19-year-old illegal immigrant charged with drunken driving early this morning drove the wrong way for at least 6 miles on the Taconic State Parkway before a trooper and a Mount Pleasant officer pulled him over.

Henry M. Garcia of Ossining appeared this morning in Town Court, where Town Justice Nicholas C. Maselli set bond at $100,000 and ordered him to return on Sept. 24.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Ashraf - noting that Garcia had a blood-alcohol content more than three times the legal limit, that he may face a felony charge of reckless endangerment and his legal status - had requested a $1 million bond.

Garcia, who was stopped at 1:37 a.m. after police received more than a dozen calls from frightened motorists, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.27 percent, police said. The legal threshold for driving while intoxicated is 0.08 percent.

Police saw Garcia make a U-turn, so he was heading in the right direction, just before they stopped him. He was charged with driving while intoxicated, aggravated driving while intoxicated, misdemeanors, being an unlicensed driver and a several other traffic infractions.

Ashraf said, and Maselli agreed, that Garcia may soon face a felony charge of reckless endangerment.

On July 26, the Taconic was the scene of a horrific wrong-way accident, when Long Island resident Diane Schuler drove the wrong way for almost two miles and crashed her minivan into a sport utility vehicle, killing herself and seven others. Police said she was driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.19 percent.

Earlier this month, Gregorio Pena, 44, of the Bronx was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated after he drove north in the Taconic's southbound lanes for almost two miles. Pena, who police said had a blood-alcohol level of 0.20 percent, was charged with felony reckless endangerment.

State police Investigator Joseph Becerra said police believe that Garcia drove south in the northbound lane for at least 6 miles, possibly more.

"The fact that over a dozen people called makes us believe that he had been on the parkway for some time," Becerra said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the state police at 914-769-2600.

Garcia, who is from Guatemala , described himself as an illegal immigrant, Becerra said. He has no driver's license.

He was driving a 2000 Toyota SUV that belongs to an acquaintance from Mount Kisco. Garcia has been working at the Olympic diner in Ossining as a bus boy.

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http://www.lohud.com/article/20090917/N ... %20Taconic

Article Comments:

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/sect ... NEWS02&s=d

Yet another illegal that hurts the American people.

go to the olympic diner and see how many more illegals are there
then check into the person who gave him the vehicle to drive.
im betting hes illegal too