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Friday, January 31, 2020
Vol. 69, No. 5
HEALTH & PARKLAND MOM PRESSES CALL FOR STATE PROBE OF COMPTROLLER HACKING WELLNESS GUN SAFETY ACTION PAGES 31-42
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DWI arrest with child in back seat
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SHI ZI YÓUXÍNG
Roslyn Heights man charged after car failed to maintain lane: police BY R O S E W E L D ON A Roslyn Heights man was arrested for driving while intoxicated with his 10-year-old son in the back seat of his car, police said. The Nassau County Police Department said that Chaojen Cheng, 53, was driving a 2017 Nissan Pathfinder early Saturday morning. “The vehicle was traveling eastbound on the Long Island Expressway at exit 33 and was failing to maintain its
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NASSAU COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
Chaojen Cheng of Roslyn
lane,” the department said. Officers stopped Cheng outside his home on Old Powerhouse Road. “During the investigation, it was determined that the defendant emitted the odor of alcohol on his breath and had glassy eyes,” the police said. The defendant’s 10-year-old son had been seated in the back of the Nissan, the department said, and was released to his mother at the scene. The child was not injured. The department said Cheng was placed under arrest “without incident.” Cheng is charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated under Leandra’s Law, driving while intoxicating, endangering the welfare of a child, driving while intoxicated and multiple unnamed vehicle and traffic law infractions. He was arraigned on Sunday at First District Court in Hempstead, where he was represented by Robert Brunetti of the Mineola-based Brunetti Law Firm. Calls to Brunetti for comment were unavailing. Cheng is due back in court on Friday.
PHOTO BY ROSE WELDON
The Herricks High School Lion Team performs at Manhasset High School’s celebration of the Lunar New Year. See story on page 6 and more photos on page 19.
Wheatley eyes playoffs as season nears end BY R OB E RT PELAEZ
has already matched that total with five games remaining and a chance at a postseason berth From 2016 to 2018, the on the line. After three years of rebuildWheatley varsity boys basketball team accounted for 10 ing the program, head coach total wins. This year’s team Jim Curcio has a team of “pas-
sionate and hungry athletes,” he said in an interview. In his 22 years of coaching at Wheatley, Curcio said, rebuilding was “nothing new” to him and years like this make coaching special. Continued on Page 60
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