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Cops: Fewer DWI Arrests, Fatal Crashes During New Year's In Nassau County

MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - The number of people arrested in Nassau County for DWI over the New Year's holiday dropped compared to last year.

Police announced that there were 48 people arrested for driving drunk around the new year. Last year, police said there were 55 people arrested.

WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reports

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"Throughout the year we were doing a significant prevention campaign warning people about the dangers of drunk driving and we believe our prevention campaign is working well," Nassau County Police Inspector Kenneth Lack told WCBS 880's Sophia Hall. "One of the numbers we like to see go down is DWI fatalities. In 2011, there were 38 fatalities in Nassau County in regard to DWI. And as of October, there were 19 such deaths. So that number is a good number that's going down."

Of the arrests around the holiday, Lack said two cases in particular stood out. One was a man arrested for DWI in Hempstead with a 6-year-old child not wearing a seatbelt in the car.

The other was in East Meadow, where 26-year old Hugh Murray was busted for drunk driving.

"He was operating under the influence of an alcoholic beverage. Murray was placed into custody and an electronic stun gun shaped as a cell phone was recovered from his jacket. You just never know who you are stopping or who you're pulling over," Lack told Hall.

As of noon, Suffolk County did not have arrest numbers over the New Year's holiday available.

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