Shirley mom faces Leandra’s Law charge, records show

Tara Fontana, 38, of Shirley was high on drugs and... — Tara Fontana, 38, of Shirley was high on drugs and driving with her two children when she crashed her car into a pole in Middle Island on Wednesday, Nov, 22, 2017, Suffolk police said. Credit: SCPD

By Rachelle Blidnerrachelle.blidner@newsday.com @rachelleblidnerNovember 23, 2017

A Shirley mother who police said crashed her car with her two young children inside faces a felony Leandra’s Law charge because she was allegedly high on drugs.

Tara Fontana, 38, was arrested Wednesday after crashing her vehicle into a pole on Middle Island Road in Middle Island, injuring herself and her two children, Suffolk police said. They were taken to Stony Brook University Hospital for nonlife-threatening injuries.

She had her 9-year-old son and a 2-week-old daughter in the vehicle, police said.

Officials said she had to be revived with Narcan, a drug overdose antidote, according to News 12, which attended the arraignment.

Fontana was arraigned Thursday on a charge of aggravated driving while impaired with children, known as Leandra’s Law; criminal possession of a controlled substance, heroin; endangering the welfare of a child; and operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs, according to police and court records.

Fontana was represented by Legal Aid, which has a policy of not commenting early in the case, and held on a bail of $52,000 bond or $27,000 cash, online court records show. An order of protection on the children’s behalf was issued against her.

The Shirley woman was arrested five days before she was scheduled to appear in court on another charge, court records show. She had been released from jail on her own recognizance after leaving the scene of an accident in July, online records show.

Suffolk police said Thursday they had no additional information about the July accident.

Leandra’s Law is named for 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, killed in 2009 when a car she was riding in, driven by a drunken driver, overturned on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Manhattan. The law makes it a felony, even on first offense, to drive drunk with a passenger age 15 or younger in the vehicle.

With Ellen Yan