Jeep Hits Building in Pearl River, Woman Charged with DWI

A Pearl River woman who drove off Main Street in Pearl River and hit a building has been charged with drunken driving, according to .

Bernadette Riordan, 35, of 25 Veterans Parkway Drive, was also found to be driving with a suspended driver’s license, police said, in an incident at 5:03 a.m. Saturday in which a man was nearly struck by Riordan as the 2008 Jeep Wrangler she was driving went off the road.

Police said a 52-year-old man was parked on the side of South Main Street cleaning out his company party bus after having dropped passengers off. The man told police he saw the Jeep heading north on South Main Street when it drove off the road and then nearly hit him.

The Jeep drove over a lawn and then hit the entrance to the building at 41 S. Main St., police said.

Riordan was not injured in the crash. However, police said she was found to be intoxicated and was arrested.

Riordan was taken to Orangetown police headquarters in Orangeburg, where she was charged with driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, driving with a suspended license, refusal to take a chemical breath test for alcohol, and issued a traffic ticket.

Riordan was later released to a friend pending a Sept. 11 hearing in Orangetown Town Court in Orangeburg.