Cops: Wrong-way driver had twice legal limit of alcohol

The accused drunken driver in a wrong-way crash on the Long Island Expressway early Tuesday had a blood-alcohol content of 0.17 percent - more than twice the legal limit, a Nassau prosecutor said at a hospital arraignment Wednesday.

Katelyn O'Connell, 22, appeared subdued but alert as she lay in a private room at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, surrounded by court officials and her lawyer, an intravenous line connected to her arm.

Nassau authorities don't know when O'Connell got on the LIE eastbound lanes going west. They believe O'Connell, of Westbury, had just dropped someone off in Mineola some time before 5 a.m. before colliding with another car in the HOV lane.

Through her attorney, O'Connell pleaded not guilty. A judge ordered her held on $10,000 bond or $5,000 cash bail; her next court date is Friday.

During the four-minute hearing, O'Connell kept one arm tucked underneath a blanket, her hair pulled up in a loose bun. She appeared tired and pale but had no visible injuries. A family member attended the hearing. Like O'Connell, he did not speak.

Standing at the foot of her bed next to District Court Judge Angelo Delligati, O'Connell's attorney, Keith Lavallee, objected to the presence of a Newsday reporter and waived the reading of the charges. He said his client has never been arrested before and works as a waitress, declining comment after the hearing.

A preliminary breath test given to O'Connell more than doubled the legal limit of 0.08 percent. Nassau police said O'Connell also gave a blood sample after being taken by ambulance to Winthrop.

O'Connell is charged with reckless endangerment and drunken driving as a misdemeanor, based on the preliminary breath test. A Nassau district attorney spokeswoman said that an additional felony assault charge would likely be reduced to a misdemeanor based on the other driver's injury.

"She caused the driver to suffer a fractured ankle," said prosecutor Christina Singh. That driver, a 27-year-old father of three from Queens, was also hospitalized. He was in good condition Tuesday, officals said.