A Guatemalan national was found guilty of driving while having a with a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) nearly three times the legal limit.
On March 20, 2025, a witness called 911 to report three males fighting in a parking lot on New York Avenue in Huntington Station. When members of the Suffolk County Police Department responded, their investigation into a fight turned into a DWI investigation when it was revealed that Walter Danilo Perez Sanchez had driven a silver Toyota RAV4 into the parking lot while intoxicated. Officers observed that Perez Sanchez had an odor of alcohol on his breath, bloodshot and glassy eyes, slurred speech, and was unsteady on his feet.
Perez Sanchez was also administered Standardized Field Sobriety Tests, which he performed poorly. He was then transported to Huntington Hospital, where he consented to a chemical test of his blood, which revealed that his BAC was .22%.
On May 27, 2026, Perez Sanchez, 42, was convicted of the following charges after a jury trial heard before Suffolk County Court Judge Bryan Browns:
- Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated, a Class D felony
- Driving While Intoxicated, a Class D felony
- Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle, an Unclassified misdemeanor
- Circumventing an Interlock Device, a Class A misdemeanor
He was previously convicted of Driving While Intoxicated on November 25, 2019, and March 16, 2023. For his third and most recent conviction, dated April 9, 2024, Perez Sanchez pleaded guilty to two counts of Driving While Intoxicated, Class D felonies.
Upon conviction, the District Attorney’s Office moved to remand Perez Sanchez into custody. The court denied the motion and allowed the defendant to be released.
“This defendant had three prior DWI convictions and still chose to drive drunk, demonstrating a continued disregard for our laws. His prior arrests have clearly failed to deter further criminal conduct,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. “Thanks to the work of our law enforcement partners and our prosecutors, this persistent drunk driver has now been stopped from putting other drivers’ and pedestrians’ lives at risk.”
Perez Sanchez is due back in court for sentencing on July 27, 2026, and faces up to 2⅓ to seven years in prison.