DWI in Southeast Among 4 Handled This Weekend by Putnam Deputies

Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith reports the recent arrests of motorists on DWI charges:

• Sept. 18: At 3:12 p.m., Deputy Sheriff Christopher Tompkins responded to a 911 report of an erratic vehicle on Peekskill Hollow Road in Putnam Valley. The caller reported having observed the car nearly collide with a school bus in traffic. The deputy saw the vehicle in the vicinity of Peekskill Hollow Road and New Hill Road, and observed the driver commit a traffic violation. He stopped the car and concluded that the driver, Jose C. Lazo- Arevalo, 38, of Hopewell Junction, New York was intoxicated. The deputy arrested Lazo-Arevalo and charged him with Driving While Intoxicated, a misdemeanor, after the man failed a series of standardized field sobriety tests.
• Sept. 19: At 2:46 a.m., Deputy Sheriff Keith Blessing responded to a 911 report of a possible intoxicated driver in the vicinity of Route 22 and Deans Corners Road in Southeast. The caller was a taxi driver who reported to have been nearly struck head-on by a car that also drove off the roadway several times. The deputy got there and stopped the vehicle after he saw it being driven erratically. After Douglas Jacinto, 22, of 7 Williams Street, Danbury, Connecticut failed a series of standardized field sobriety tests, he was arrested and was processed at the Putnam County Correctional Facility, where his charge was upgraded to Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated, a misdemeanor.
• Sept. 19: At 7:59 p.m., Deputy Sheriff Kevin Radovich stopped a motorist who had been driving on the shoulder of Route 52 in Kent and who had nearly struck another vehicle in traffic. The deputy determined that the driver, identified as Pali Perpepaj, 53, of Holmes, New York was intoxicated. The deputy arrested Perpepaj and charged him with Driving While Intoxicated, a misdemeanor, after the man failed a series of standardized field sobriety tests.
• Sept. 20: Ar 12:40 a.m., Deputy Sheriff William Rossiter stopped a motorist who had committed a traffic violation on Lake Drive in Putnam Valley. The deputy suspected that the driver, identified as Heath L. Salvati, 38, of Watertown, Connecticut was intoxicated. After Salvati failed a series of standardized field sobriety tests he was charged with DWI.

If found guilty of the misdemeanor charges, they face up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000 for each charge.