New Hartford, NY--New Hartford police Thursday accused a grandfather of driving while intoxicated with his three-year-old grandson in the vehicle and not having the child in a safety seat or seat belted. Joseph L. Kimball Jr., 49, of Paris Hill, was accused of violating Leandra’s Law which is aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child less than 15 years old...
New Hartford, NY--New Hartford police Thursday accused a grandfather of driving while intoxicated with his three-year-old grandson in the vehicle and not having the child in a safety seat or seat belted.
Joseph L. Kimball Jr., 49, of Paris Hill, was accused of violating Leandra’s Law which is aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child less than 15 years old in the vehicle. He was also charged with driving while intoxicated, aggravated driving while intoxicated for having a blood alcohol content of 0.18 percent or greater, and endangering the welfare of a child.
He was arraigned in the Town of New Hartford Court and sent to the Oneida County Correctional Facility in lieu of $800 bail.
Here’s what police said happened.
Police received a call about 10 p.m. on Thursday that an intoxicated man was operating a pickup truck on State Route 12 southbound from Utica with a three-year-old child in the vehicle. A New Hartford officer stopped the truck at the Town of Kirkland line.
The officer determined that Kimball had been drinking and that his grandson was not in a safety seat, nor was he seat belted while the vehicle was in motion. The officer also found an open container of beer in the vehicle.
A breath test administered at the police station showed that Kimball’s blood alcohol content was 0.20 percent, or almost three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent.