Riding along with Suffolk County police as they crack down on drunk and impaired driving
SUFFOLK COUNTY, New York (WABC) -- Eyewitness News rode along with Suffolk County police as they patrolled some of the deadliest streets in the state and set up sobriety checkpoints to get drunk drivers off the roads.
"Most of the officers are doing anywhere from 50 to 100 to 150 DWI tickets a year which is a lot," a Suffolk County officer said.
In 2022 on Long Island, 245 people died in crashes, with 164 in Suffolk County. A third of all fatalities involved DWIs.
"All throughout New York State, Suffolk County, we hold the trophy for that and it's not a good trophy to hold," the officer said.
"We want to try to take that number down each year," said Sgt. Thomas Mutarelli, Suffolk County Police Department.
For many of these officers, this sobriety checkpoint has a much deeper meaning.
Officer Anthony Bellaspirito of the Highway Patrol lost his cousin, 22-year-old Timothy Carpenter, last year to a driver on drugs.
"It was a Sunday afternoon. He was just going home with my uncle, and a driver that was under the influence of drugs, hit them head on and killed him," Officer Bellaspirito said.
Timothy was about to graduate from Stony Brook University when he was killed.
For his parents. Andrea and Timothy Sr., the pain is still raw.
"My baby," Timothy Sr. said.
"The best son we could ever have," Andrea said.
"I want you back," Carpenter Sr. said.
"We would give anything to get him back," Andrea said.
Timothy's death is part of a growing trend of people killed by drivers under the influence, of not alcohol, but drugs.
"We see an increase in drugged drivers now," Sgt. Mutarelli said.
In New York, it seems the laws are not keeping up with the DUI trends.
For example, under current state law, an impaired driver can only be charged if the officer can name the drug they are on.
New York also requires the drug to be on a public health list to be charged with DUI, and the list is not consistently updated as some synthetic drugs have changed.
"I just, I miss him so much, and something's got to be done," Timothy Sr. said. "It's got to be done. Something's got to change. The laws, the laws have got to change."
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