Another arrest for driving drunk with a kid in the car.

State Police say a Rye Brook woman was arrested on December 31 following a one car accident on the Taconic State Parkway in the Town of East Fishkill. 

Troopers say they arrived on the scene to find 37 year old Suji Alexander-Raja of Rye Brook standing outside the vehicle with her 6 year old daughter after she apparently had gone off the roadway and struck a guiderail.

Police say they noticed a strong odor of alcohol on her breath and after she allegedly failed field sobriety tests was found to have a blood alcohol level (BAC) of .32%-four times the legal limit. 

Alexander-Raja was charged with Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated, Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated under Leandra's Law and unsafe lane change. She was arraigned in the Town of East Fishkill Court and remanded to the Dutchess County Jail  in lieu of $5,000 cash bail or $10,000 bond. 

Because of the blizzard-like conditions associated with the ongoing Winter storm, the New York State Police are urging all residents to avoid non-essential travel until after the storm passes.

Major Michael Kopy, the Troop Commander in Troop K, which covers Westchester,Putnam, Dutchess and Columbia Counties says additional Troopers have been brought in to help with roadway patrols to assist disabled motorists and those in need of assistance during the storm. 

A motorcycle crash around 5 p.m. Sunday on the Southbound Taconic State Parkway near the Shrub Oak exit has claimed the life of a man.

State Police said  it was a "single vehicle one person accident."

Traffic was at a standstill for more than three hours while police closed the roadway and the ramps to the parkway on Routes 6 and 134 were shut down  to reconstruct the accident. Northbound traffic was also affected.

The victim has been idnetified as 33 year old Elvin Porcel of the Bronx.

Porcel was pronounced dead at the scene.

More troubles for the wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  This time, State troopers say the 50 year old Mount Kisco resident has been charged with Driving While Ability Impaired after she was stopped this weekend for allegedly speeding on the Taconic State Parkway in Dutchess County.

Authorities say Mary R. Kennedy was pulled over after she was clocked driving 82 miles per hour in the Town of Pleasant Valley shortly before 8 a.m. Saturday morning. A trooper performed sobriety tests and charged her with driving while impaired by drugs, a misdemeanor.

A routine traffic stop turned violent after police say a man pulled over for tailgating, and his girlfriend, suddently began attacking the State Trooper who was ticketing them.

A Mahopac woman has been arrested and charged with DWI after allegedly backing her vehicle into the State Police patrol vehicle that stopped her on the Taconic State Parkway in Yorktown Monday night.

State Police say 46 year old Maryellen Gilchrist was stopped around 9:15 Monday night for driving across hazardous markings. As she was pulled over, police say Gilchrist backed her vehicle into the front of the patrol car. Nobody was injured and the patrol car suffered little or no damage. Gilchrist's vehicle sustained rear end damage.

It has been almost one year since Diane Schuler of Long Island drove her minivan the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway in Mount Pleasant and struck an SUV head-on, killing 8 people, including herself.
Now, State Police say they've wrapped up their investigation into the July 26, 2009 crash and conluded that Schuler was traveling 85 miles an hour  in the southbound direction of the northbound lanes when the tragedy occurred. They also concluded that the vehicle she struck was traveling about 74 miles per hour in the left hand lane of the northbound direction.Her five year old son, Bryan, was the sole survivor of the crash.

A criminal investigation concluded that Schuler was drunk and high on marijuana at the time of the crash.  Relatives of two of the victims of the wrong way crash have since filed suit against Schuler's estate.