PORT RICHMOND — An MTA train operator was arrested for driving drunk Saturday, prosecutors said.
Carlos Sanchez, 38, of Brooklyn, was stopped by police after they saw him driving 18 mph over the speed limit on the West Shore Expressway around 12:53 a.m., according to court papers.
Sanchez was charged with driving while intoxicated at his arraignment, according to the District Attorney. He was released without bail and is due back in court on April 9, according to court records.
He became a conductor for the MTA in 2003, and was promoted to train operator in 2006, according to a spokeswoman for the MTA. The MTA said Sanchez was no longer operating trains pending the outcome of the investigation.
His lawyer did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Other notable crimes in Staten Island include:
► A man fleeing police because he was driving with a suspended license smashed into a utility pole, then rammed a woman cleaning snow off her car, prosecutors said.
Hasim Smith, 22, was driving his 2009 Chevy Malibu on Alaska and Wayne streets on Tuesday around 2:30 p.m. when police noticed him speeding and flashed their lights to pull him over, according to court papers.
Smith tried to flee from police and hit a utility pole before crashing to a halt against a parked snow-covered car and its female owner, who was trying to clean it off, according to court papers.
The crash ripped the front fender off the woman's car, and the crash left the woman with pain on the right side of her body, prosecutors said.
Smith tried to run from police and refused to be handcuffed when officers finally caught up with him, according to court papers.
Smith told police he fled because his license was suspended, according to court papers.
He was charged with reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of an incident without reporting, unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and resisting arrest, according to the Staten Island District Attorney's office.
In 2013, Smith was arrested for blowing several red lights in Graniteville after trying to steal ATVs from a home there, according to published reports. He was out on $30,000 bail.
Smith was ordered held on $5,000 bail in the most recent case and is due back in court on Feb. 23, according to court records.
"Our client denies these allegations," Smith's lawyer, Louis Gelormino, said. "We believe, going forward, the facts will portray that our client didn't know that it was a police officer following him."
Smith was also arrested twice last year, once for leaving the scene of another accident and another for possession of cocaine, according to court records.
► A drunk driver who smashed into a brick wall while driving with a blood alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit claimed that she was just picking up the cellphone she dropped, prosecutors said.
Police found Melody Hannon, 23, on Saturday around 2:20 a.m. inside her 2000 Nissan Frontier pickup truck after she crashed into a brick wall in front of 5193 Amboy Rd., according to court papers.
Hannon blew a .215 on a breathalyzer test giving by police on scene — nearly three times the legal limit of .08, according to court papers.
Hannon admitted to police that she was driving home after drinking "between two and three" Tequila and pineapple drinks at Play Sports Bar, but blamed her out-of-control driving on her phone.
"My cellphone fell to the floor. I was trying to pick it up," Hannon told police, according to court papers.
She was charged with DWI at her arraignment, according to the District Attorney. She was released without bail and is due back in court on April 16, according to online court records.
Her lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
