Felony Charges For Woman Allegedly High On Lithium

A Brooklyn woman who maintains a house in Northwest Woods was arrested by East Hampton Village police on a felony charge of driving while ability impaired by drugs after striking two cars in the Reutershan parking lot Friday morning, October 12.

According to the police, Deborah Jean Lyons, 57, was driving a 2019 Mercedes Benz when she tried to pull into a parking space, striking two cars as she did so. When the arresting officer spoke to her, Lyons’s speech was slurred, the police said, and she could not maintain her balance in order to take roadside sobriety tests. She allegedly told the officer she had taken lithium a couple of hours earlier.

The incident occurred about 10:30 AM, almost exactly one year after Lyons was last arrested. On October 15, 2017, Lyons was behind the wheel of a 2016 Mercedes when she crashed into a tree, and was charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated by East Hampton Town police, a charge she eventually pleaded guilty to in East Hampton Town Justice Court. Justice Lisa Rana had suspended Lyons’s license after that arrest, leading to a second felony charge against Lyons Friday, aggravated unlicensed driving.

Prior to the 2017 arrest, Lyons was convicted on a DWI charge in 2006. If convicted of the latest charges, Lyons faces a possible multi-year revocation of her driving privilege by the New York Department of Motor Vehicles. The 2019 Mercedes was seized Friday by police, as required by county law governing such felony charges.

Her attorney, Rob Connolly, told Justice Steven Tekulsky during Lyons’s Saturday morning arraignment that his client has never missed a court date, asking that she be released without bail. Citing the seriousness of the charges, Justice Tekulsky set bail at $2500, and transferred the case over to Justice Rana. Bail was posted by Lyons.

t.e@indyeastend.com