Drunk Driving Law Named After Leandra Rosado Goes Into Effect Updated December 18, 2009 1:00pm

A photo of Leandra Rosado hangs over a makeshift memorial at the building where she lived in West Chelsea. Leandra died in a car accident on Oct. 11. (Serena Solomon/DNAinfo)

MIDTOWN — A new drunk driving law passed after the tragic death of an 11-year-old girl on the Henry Hudson Parkway goes into effect throughout New York State Friday. 

The law, known as Leandra's Law, makes it a felony to drive drunk with a child 15-years old and younger in the car.

The law was named after 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who was killed in a tragic car accident in October. 

"(Today) is the day where everything changes for anyone who drinks and drives with children in the car," Leandra's father Lenny Rosado told the Daily News.

Carmen Huertas, 31, faces manslaughter after she was allegedly drunk when she was driving a car full of young girls from Manhattan to a slumber party in the Bronx. The car flipped several times on the Henry Hudson Parkway, according to authorities, and Leandra was thrown from the car.

State Senator Martin Dilan (D-Brooklyn) cosponsored the bill. He said 59 children were injured or killed while riding in a car with a drunk driver in New York last year, the News reported.

Lenny Rosado has lead the fight to get the law passed in New York and, according to NY 1, he is scheduled to meet New York congressional members with the goal of extending the law to a national level.

By Serena Solomon, DNAinfo.com

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