Mother Arrested on Leandra's Law Charge

Felony DWI charges were leveled at a Southampton woman April 7 after she was pulled over for speeding on Long View Road in Shinnecock Hills at 4:20 p.m. according to police.

said 33-year-old Pascuala Ascencion-Ortiz was traveling 62 miles per hour in a 30-mph zone and was driving a 1999 Chevy Malibu in an intoxicated condition with her 5-year-old daughter unrestrained in the back seat of the vehicle. She was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated under Leandra’s Law, a felony, endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, and five traffic violations including speeding, moving unsafely from a traffic lane, failure to wear a seat belt, unlicensed operation of a vehicle and failure to use a designated lane.

Ascencion-Ortiz was additionally charged with false personation for providing police with a fake name, a class-B misdemeanor, according to the arrest report.

At the time of the traffic stop and arrest, police said Ascencion-Ortiz had "a difficult time” standing and failed sobriety tests. Cops also said that the she likely faces deportation based on an active arrest warrant issued from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Leandra’s Law is a New York State law making it an automatic felony on the first offense to drive drunk with a person aged 15 or younger inside a vehicle, setting the blood alcohol content, or BAC, minimum at .08. The bill was signed into law in November 2009.