Friend of Leandra Rosado
Leandra Rosado
On October 11th of this year, six young girls got into a car with the mother of one of the girls Carmen Huertas, who was driving them all to a slumber party. She knew that she was heavily inebriated, but that did not stop her from driving a car full of children. Huertas even had the girls raise their hands if they thought that they would make it too their destination without crashing. Unfortunately, she did end up crashing. She lost control while speeding and hit another car causing one of the girls, 11 year old Leandra Rosado, to be flung from the car. Young Leandra, who had her entire life ahead of her, was killed that night.
Now, with the help of Leandra’s father Lenny, New York legislators are passing a law named after this poor girl that is going to crack down on adults that drive drunk with minors in their vehicle. Lenny has been pushing for harsher penalties for drunk drivers and has stated that he will be dedicating his life to that purpose. He has made some significant progress already, and he should be proud of that. Lenny Rosado stood right next to Governor David Paterson as he signed the bill.
When this law goes into effect, it is going to be a felony to have a blood-alcohol content of over .08 with anybody 15 or younger in the same car. Also, any driver that is convicted of driving while intoxicated, even for the first time, will have a mandatory license suspension and an ignition interlock interlock device placed in their vehicle. What this device does is that it will not allow the the driver to turn on their car until they blow into a tube that measures their BAC. If it is above the legal limit, the engine will not start.
Anybody that breaks Leandra’s Law will be facing harsh penalties. If the operator of the vehicle injures a child while inebriated, they will be sentenced with a minimum of 15 years in prison. If the child ends up dying, the minimum is 25 years. Carmen Huertas has been charged with counts of manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, and assault.
