Police: Man with 5-year-old in Car at 3:40 a.m. Charged With DWI

A Garnerville man who struck a construction barrel with his car early this morning is charged with violating "Leandra's Law" for driving drunk with a child in the car, according to the Rockland County Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff's Police Division Captain William Barbera said an officer stopped Johann Cortes, 28, of Garnerville at 3:40 a.m. on Route 202 in Haverstraw after spotting Cortes driving erratically. Barbera said Cortes appeared to be intoxicated and he was arrested.

At the time, Cortes had a 5-year-old boy with him in the car.

Cortes was arrested and brought to the Sheriff's headquarters in New City, where the child was turned over to his mother. Cortes is charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated, a felony, under Leandra's Law, endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, as well as driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor.

After arraignment in Haverstraw Town Court, Cortes was being held in the Rockland County Correctional Center in New City this afternoon on $1,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in Haverstraw Town Court again on Sept. 14.