A Bronx man was arrested Monday morning after Suffolk County police said he was driving a tractor trailer while intoxicated on the Long Island Expressway in Brentwood.
Highway Patrol officers responded at approximately 7 a.m. to multiple 911 calls reporting a tractor trailer failing to maintain its lane on the eastbound Long Island Expressway, west of Exit 57. Officers located the vehicle and determined the driver, Frederic Mejia, 35, was intoxicated, according to police.
Mejia, of East 172nd Street in the Bronx, was taken into custody without incident and charged with Driving While Intoxicated.
Authorities said the truck, owned by LV Carrier Corp., was carrying grocery items and weighed approximately 80,000 pounds at the time of the incident. Members of the department’s Motor Carrier Safety Section responded to conduct a safety inspection of the vehicle.
Driving While Intoxicated is a criminal offense in New York, and the involvement of a commercial vehicle significantly increases the potential risk to the public due to its size and weight.
Mejia is scheduled to be arraigned on April 13 at First District Court in Central Islip.
The charge is an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
