If you’re going to get drunk and plow your car into a police cruiser, do it in style!
A fashion-forward Long Island boozehound lost control of his car and rammed it into a marked Suffolk County cop car that was on DWI patrol — all while wearing a T-shirt with a message that couldn’t be more fitting for the occasion.
“I’m not an alcoholic, I’m a drunk. Alcoholics go to meetings,” announced the black-and-white shirt worn by DWI suspect Kevin Daly, 23, of Coram.
The self-professed “drunk” — who has 13 prior arrests and seven convictions for various crimes — spun his 2000 Saturn out of control at about 1:45 a.m. yesterday as he attempted to turn east from County Road 83 to Route 25A in Mount Sinai, Suffolk County Police said.
As he came around the bend, he hit the side of a parked Suffolk cop car that was part of the department’s Selective Alcohol Fatality Enforcement Team, in which an officer had been observing traffic for possible drunk drivers.
Neither Daly nor the officer in the car, Armand Reyes, suffered serious injuries, police said.
After Daly was pulled out of his car, his words to cops were as candid as his shirt.
“I had two beers, the big ones . . . I deserve whatever I get. I was drinking and driving.,” he said, according to a police report. He also told police that the rain had a role in the smash-up.
“I tried to stop but I was going too fast for my brakes to stop on the wet road,” he said, according to police records.
Daly allegedly registered a .11 blood alcohol level and was charged with DWI and several traffic offenses.
When cops saw his alcohol-related outerwear they couldn’t help but be shocked.
Lt. David Geer called the shirt “ironic” and said, “It’s almost surreal to have that happen.”
However, he didn’t see anything funny in it.
“The T-shirt was announcing his feelings about intoxication,” Geer said. “I think anytime people take something as serious as alcoholism and driving a motor vehicle under the influence that lightly, it is an immature attitude.”
When Daly was hauled into court for arraignment yesterday, he had the shirt turned inside-out so it couldn’t be seen.
After the hearing, even his lawyer was amazed by the shirt’s message.
“You see people come in here all the time in weird clothes like pajamas, but his shirt was just ironic,” said attorney Matt Hereth.
Though cops said Daly was unemployed, Hereth said he had a job, but would not say what it was.
The Coram man — who has no prior DWIs despite his long rap sheet — had been on probation for a petit larceny, according to cops.
He was ordered held on $10,000 bail.