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Wappinger Woman In Crash Drove High With 2-Year-Old In Car, Police Say

WAPPINGER, N.Y. -- A Wappinger woman was driving while impaired by drugs with her toddler in the car, say state police.

Wappinger resident Stephanie Santiago faces felony charges of driving while intoxicated after she was involved in a one-car crash on Sunday, Feb. 9, police said. Her 2-year-old son was in the car, but was not injured, police said.

Wappinger resident Stephanie Santiago faces felony charges of driving while intoxicated after she was involved in a one-car crash on Sunday, Feb. 9, police said. Her 2-year-old son was in the car, but was not injured, police said.

Photo Credit: New York State Police

Stephanie V. Santiago, 40, was arrested on Sunday, Feb. 9, after a one-car accident on Smith Crossing Road, police said.

She was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated under Leandra’s Law, a felony, and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor.

Leandra’s Law, adopted in New York in 2009, makes its an automatic felony on the first offense to drive while intoxicated with a person under age 15 in the car.

It is named after Leandra Rosado, an 11-year-old girl who was killed in New York City in 2009 when one of her mother’s friends, who was intoxicated, flipped the car she was in.

Troopers investigating the Wappinger accident said that Santiago was impaired by drugs. Her 2-year-old son, a passenger in the vehicle, was not injured.

Santiago was arraigned in the Town of Wappinger Justice Court and sent to the Dutchess County Jail in lieu of $10,000 cash bail, or $20,000 bond.

She is scheduled to reappear in Wappinger Justice Court on Thursday, Feb. 11.

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