Sep 18, 2009 6:05 am US/Eastern
Asst. Principal Accused Of DWI With Child In Tow
Unbelievable Revelation Comes On Heels Of Wrong-Way Crash And Livery Cab Driver Jaunt On Taconic Parkway
Police: Melonie Lendor Was On Way To School On NYS Thruway
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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New York City assistant principal Melonie Lendor was pulled over by state police on Thursday and later arrested for DWI. Lendor's small child was in the car.
CBS
Police made a shocking discovery in the Bronx on Thursday.
A local assistant principal was arrested and charged with driving drunk on her way to work.
What's even more stunning, police said her 10-month-old baby was in the car.
IS 217 was apparently the driver's final destination Thursday morning. The school is located inside a building on Westchester Avenue and Tiffany Street in the Bronx. One student summed up the entire alleged incident in one word.
"Scary," she said.
Arrested was 41-year-old Melonie Lendor of Walden up in Orange County. State police said at 6:40 Thursday morning Lendor was driving southbound on the New York State Thruway near the Palisades Parkway.
Lendor was spotted driving so erratically with her small child in the back seat that other motorists using cell phones notified the police.
Troopers said once stopped she failed a field sobriety test, and refused an alcohol breath test -- all this with her child in the car, ultimately on her way to school.
CBS 2 HD spoke to one man who teaches in the building.
"I mean, if all details are true it sounds like a situation that is irresponsible," Dan Krieger said.
It's reminiscent of the July 26 fatal crash on the Taconic, driving the wrong way. Eight were killed, including the wrong-way driver who had children in the car. An autopsy showed she was drunk.
Then on Sept. 9, a livery cab driver on the Taconic was driving for almost two miles the wrong way. Police said he tested drunk.
Now this.
"I think it's really dangerous. Intoxicated, you could kill yourself or somebody else on the street," school employee Beverly Womack told CBS 2 HD.
Police said the woman's young son was turned over to her brother. The charges: drunken driving and child endangerment.
Lendor was charged with felony driving while intoxicated because of a prior alcohol-related driving offense.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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