Woman accused of violating Leandra's Law with 3 small children in SUV

An Amityville woman has been charged with driving drunk with her three children in the car after picking one of them up from a North Amityville school Thursday afternoon, Suffolk police said.

Benigna Pinedamata, 29, drove her 2003 Land Rover Freelander in front of the North East Elementary School on Albany Avenue with her 1-month-old and 3-year-old sons in the SUV, police said. After she picked up her 5-year-old son from the school about 4:10 p.m., she was stopped before leaving the parking lot by a school administrator and security officer who suspected she was intoxicated.

The officials called 911, police said.

Pinedamata was charged with three counts of aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child 15 years or younger, also known as Leandra's Law, as well as three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, driving while intoxicated, circumvention of an interlock device and first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Leandra's Law, named for 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, makes it a felony, even on a first offense, to drive drunk with a passenger 15 years of age or younger in the vehicle.

Pinedamata was being held at the Fourth Precinct and was scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Friday.

The children were turned over to their father, police said.