Mary Sodora, 51, is currently facing a felony rap aside from intoxication charges because of a past and a similar DWI conviction ten years earlier. Orangetown police pulled over the 51-year-old woman from Nyack for driving while intoxicated around 2:48 a.m. on January 1.
According to The Lohud Journal News, Sodora was driving a 2013 KIA when she was stopped by the police for alleged traffic violation. Suspecting she was driving while intoxicated, the police made her undergo field sobriety and breath analyzer tests. Failure to pass the test led to Sodora's arrest for DWI. The charge was escalated to a felony because of Sodora's past conviction in the same offense ten years before.
Sodora will appear before the Nyack Justice Court on January 19. She is currently out of prison after posting a bail of $500.
One positive aspect to this case is that while driving while intoxicated, Sodora's state did not lead to an accident that could have killed or injured her as well as other people. Alcohol-related accidents spike upward during the December holidays and into the New Year as people tend do consume more alcohol during the many celebrations. TWC News reports that, for example, in the state of New York alone, 700 accidents and 20 deaths occurred in 2015 caused by intoxicated drivers.
For this same reason, DWI or DUI checkpoints increase during the holidays to prevent more accidents from happening. A report by the Des Moines Register says that sobriety checkpoints have proven to be effective deterrents; drivers who have taken drugs or alcohol tend to stay indoors, knowing that the police is actively implementing the law.
