Central Islip Woman Arrested for DWI With Two Children in Car

Swaneka Danzler of Central Islip had two children as passengers in her 2010 Hyundai Elantra when a 911 caller reported the car swerving through traffic on the morning of April 3. Officers from the Suffolk County Police Department's Third Precinct stopped the vehicle in front of 24 Myrtle Avenue at approximately 11:00 a.m., determined Danzler was intoxicated, and placed her under arrest. The charge: a suspected violation of Leandra's Law, an offense that carries automatic felony status under New York State law regardless of prior record.

The statute, codified at Vehicle and Traffic Law §1192[2-a][b] and formally known as the Child Passenger Protection Act, makes it a Class E felony to drive while intoxicated with a passenger under 16 in the vehicle, even on a first offense. The triggering BAC threshold is 0.08. A conviction can bring fines between $1,000 and $10,000, a mandatory minimum one-year license revocation, required ignition interlock device installation, and up to four years in state prison. Had either child been injured, the potential prison exposure would have been far greater: 15 to 25 years under the law's most serious provisions.

That severity was written into the law for a reason. On October 11, 2009, 11-year-old Leandra Rosado was killed on the Henry Hudson Parkway when Carmen Huertas, the intoxicated mother of Leandra's best friend, lost control of a car traveling 68 miles per hour in a 50-mph zone. Six other children were injured in the crash. Leandra's father, Lenny Rosado, lobbied the state legislature for what became the Child Passenger Protection Act. "I just can't comprehend how adults can put their children in harm's way, being intoxicated," Rosado said. Governor David Paterson signed the bill, passed unanimously by both chambers, into law on November 18, 2009, declaring "Today, we say enough." When it took effect, Leandra's Law became the first statute in the United States to make driving drunk with a minor an automatic felony on a first offense.

The Danzler arrest reflects a broader enforcement push across Suffolk County. As of December 2025, the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office had already surpassed its full-year 2024 DWI arrest total by more than 100 arrests, a figure Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. cited while announcing enhanced patrols. During the 2023 "Operation Heat" campaign, running Memorial Day through Labor Day, the Sheriff's Office recorded 62 DWI arrests, up 55% from 40 during the same stretch in 2022.

The Suffolk County Police Department did not release blood-alcohol testing results from the Danzler stop, information about the children's whereabouts following the arrest, or a scheduled court date. Those details typically emerge at arraignment. Suspected impaired drivers anywhere in the Third Precinct area, which covers Central Islip, Bay Shore, Brentwood, and surrounding communities, can be reported by calling 911. Long Island Rail Road's Central Islip station on the Ronkonkoma Branch, rideshare apps, and taxi services are all available alternatives to driving impaired. Child passenger safety questions can be directed to the Third Precinct at 1630 Fifth Avenue in Bay Shore.