Cops Say 22-Year-Old Drove Drunk with Revoked Licence

A 22-year-old Somers resident faces felony charges of driving while intoxicated and with a revoked license; as well as for driving without an interlock device and for several violations of vehicle and traffic laws.

Yorktown police said an officer on patrol at about 3:24 a.m. Sunday saw a Honda on Route 6 traveling east at a high rate of speed.

He activated his emergency lights and siren to pull the car over, but the driver continued into Somers, disregarding traffic signals and, in fact, traffic lanes, police allege.

Police got to the car after it stopped in Somers Commons.

The driver, identified as Matthew J. O'Connell, had had his license revoked, police found.

That license had had a restriction on it, requiring O'Connell to have an interlock device on any car he drove. State law requires ignition interlock devices, which function as breathalyzers to prevent drinking and driving, after DWI convictions. There was none in the car, police said.

Officers at the scene concluded that O'Connell was intoxicated and he was arrested and taken to Yorktown police headquarters, where he failed a breathalyzer test, police said.

He was released on $1,000 bail and is due back in Yorktown town court April 28.