Babysitter With Kids in Car Hit With Felony DWI Charges
A semi-submerged vehicle in a local reservoir led to the arrest of a Pleasant Valley woman, who is accused of driving while impaired with two children in the car with her.
On July 18, Ellexis Hoerl, 23, was charged with two counts of the felony DWI under Leandra’s Law, one count of driving while impaired by drug, two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the 7th degree and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
At about 5:34 p.m., sheriff deputies were dispatched by Putnam County 911 to a call of a one car accident in the area of Fishkill Road in the Town of Philipstown. When deputies arrived, they saw a car in the reservoir with Hoerl and two children, ages 6 and 9, outside the vehicle.
A subsequent investigation revealed that the driver, Hoerl, who was babysitting the two children, was allegedly impaired by drugs when she crashed through a guardrail and went off a retaining wall into the water.
The children, who are siblings, were evaluated at a nearby hospital and released without injury to their parents.
Hoerl was found to be in possession concentrated cannabis and Adderall. Because she was allegedly driving impaired with at least a blood alcohol content of .08 with children 15 years or younger in the car, she was automatically hit with felonies when she was charged.
Leandra’s Law was unanimously passed in 2009 by the New York State Legislature and named after Leandra Rosado, an 11-year-old girl killed in a motor vehicle accident due an impaired driver she was in the car with.
