Cops: 3 DWI Crashes on Parkways in 1 Day

Three men were arrested for drunken driving following three separate crashes on parkways in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Thursday, New York State police said.

William Lefferts Jr., Shazad Ghannie and Kevin Watkins were all charged with DWI after three seperate crashes on Thursday. (NYSPD)

In the first case, Kevin Watkins, 23, of Farmingdale, rear-ended a sport utility vehicle while driving a Nissan Maxima eastbound on the Southern State Parkway near Exit 18, Eagle Avenue, at 3:27 a.m., police said. 

“Both vehicles had severe damage from making contact with one another at a high rate of speed,” police said in a statement and when troopers arrived the vehicles involved were blocking all three lanes of traffic.  While interviewing Watkins, a trooper noticed the smell of alcohol on his breath and he was then arrested for driving while intoxicated and speeding.

Then at 4:04 a.m., Shazad Ghannie, 34, of Levittown, crashed his Honda while driving eastbound on the Northern State Parkway near Exit 27, Shelter Rock Road, police said. While interviewing Ghannie, a trooper noticed that he smelled of alcohol and arrested him for driving while intoxicated.

Later, Ghannie was found to be in possession of two unknown illegal pills, and because he also had a DWI conviction in the past 10 years, he was charged with DWI charge a felony, police said. He was also charged aggravated unlicensed operation, criminal possession of a controlled substance and several traffic violations.

Finally, at 10:50 p.m. on the southbound side of the Sagtikos Parkway, William Lefferts Jr., 49, of Bay Shore, crashed his Harley Davidson Motorcycle into a Jeep, police said. A trooper found that Lefferts had been drinking and was charged with driving while intoxicated.