Man Arrested for DWI with Toddler in Car in Station

Suffolk County police arrested a Greenlawn man for driving while intoxicated with a 1-year-old child in the car in Huntington Station on Wednesday.

According to police, Shawndell Wilder, 48, was driving a 1999 Mitsubishi Mirage with his girlfriend's toddler in the back seat when he was pulled over for driving with tinted windows and a cracked windshield on Jericho Turnpike near Cooper Avenue in Huntington Station at 4:30 p.m. Upon interviewing the driver, Second Precinct Community Oriented Police Enforcement (COPE) Officers Michelle Metten and Peter Devlin determined Wilder was intoxicated and placed him under arrest. Further investigation revealed Wilder's license had been suspended 18 times.

Under the recently enacted Leandra's Law, Wilder, of 79 Lafayette St., was charged with a felony count of aggravated driving while intoxicated with a passenger 15 years old or younger. He was also charged with driving while intoxicated, aggravated unlicensed operation in the first degree and endangering the welfare of a child.

The child's mother, Alicia Fabre, 25, of 10 Crown Ave. in Huntington, was also arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child after she admitted to police that she knew Wilder had been drinking prior to driving.

The child was released into the custody of his grandparents and a notification was made to Suffolk County Child Protective Services.

Wilder was held overnight on Wednesday and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Aug. 5. Fabre will be arraigned at a future date.