Police Arrest Port Jeff Station Woman for Driving Without Ignition Lock Device

A woman with a restricted license because of a 2010 conviction of driving while intoxicated was arrested on Monday evening for operating a vehicle without a device on her ignition that tests alcohol in a person’s breath before allowing the engine to start.

Jessica Mendola, 30, of 50 Clymer Street in Port Jefferson Station was pulled over by Suffolk police for a traffic violation at 6:09 p.m. on Monday while driving a 1999 Infiniti on Norwood Avenue. The car she was driving at the time was not Mendola’s, according to police and has been impounded.

A report said that she was initially pulled over for failure to obey a traffic control device. Police didn’t have details on the exact violation but said that may mean not stopping for a traffic light or a stop sign. She was charged with operating a motor vehicle without an interlock device and held overnight at the Sixth Precinct for arraignment at First District Court in Central Islip.

An ignition interlock device is a mechanism installed in a motor vehicle's dashboard that the driver must exhale into before the motor can be started, according to a police report. If the breath alcohol concentration result is greater than the programmed amount, the device prevents the engine from being started.

Police say that Mendola was convicted of DWI after being arrested an arrest in 2010 and she is required to have an ignition interlock device installed in any vehicle she drives.