10-23-09

Mineola, NY - Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi and Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey announce 58 new drunk driving convictions in Nassau County. Suozzi has vowed to post the mug shot of each driver convicted of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol onto the County’s website and is asking the media to publish the names and hometowns of those arrested.

"We are sending a message in Nassau County – if you’ve been drinking, and you decide to get behind the wheel of a car, we're going to arrest you,” said County Executive Suozzi. “By publicizing the names and photos of those who break the law by driving drunk we’re going to make sure that their friends, neighbors and families know about it.”

“Efforts like these raise awareness and get people talking about drunk-driving like the crime that it is. Our community needs to stop making excuses, stop pretending like these avoidable deaths are accidents, and start talking about drunk-driving with the same outrage we use to describe less socially acceptable crimes. The dialogue needs to go from the pages of our newspapers to the kitchen tables of our communities,” said District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

Added October 23, 2009