A Franklin Square man was arrested and charged Monday for driving drunk with four children after he exited his car in Lake Success to approach a Nassau County police officer, who smelled alcohol on his breath, police said.
Police said Michael A. Brown, 31, got out of his 2012 black Chrysler Minivan near Lakeville Road and the Long Island Expressway’s South Service Road to speak to an officer who had pulled over his friend in a separate vehicle.
Upon speaking to the officer, police said, the officer detected a “strong odor” of alcohol on Brown’s breath.
Police said a brief investigation determined he was under the influence of alcohol and was placed into police custody and transported to central testing for processing.
A clear plastic bag containing a “green brownish substance,” which police said they believed was marijuana, was found in Brown’s right front pants pocket.
Police said two girls, aged 10 and 4, and two boys, aged 10 and 9, were passengers in the vehicle.
The children were released to a female passenger, police said, who was Brown’s girlfriend.
Brown is charged with four counts of aggravated driving while intoxicated including one under Leandra’s law and one count of unlawful possession of marijuana.
Leandra’s Law is named after 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who died in a 2009 car crash after her mother’s friend flipped the car they were driving in while driving under the influence of alcohol.
The law makes it an automatic felony on a first offense to drunk drive with a child aged 15 or younger in the vehicle.
