A Queens grand jury indicted a Far Rockaway man for allegedly driving drunk and erratically with his children in his car and crashing into a school bus in November.
Junior Deslances, 42, of Beach Channel Drive in Far Rockaway, was arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on Thursday on a 21-count indictment charging him with aggravated vehicular assault, aggravated driving while intoxicated, three counts endangering the welfare of a child, and other related crimes, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on Friday.
According to the charges and court records, on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, Deslances was driving his three children — ages 15, 11, and 5 — to school on Brookville Boulevard just before 8:30 a.m.
The youngsters were in the backseat of his 2008 Acura SUV when Deslances was speeding and driving too closely behind another vehicle. When the driver of that vehicle hit the brakes, Deslances —in an effort to pass that vehicle — crossed the double yellow line on the two-lane roadway, hitting another vehicle before smashing head-on into the school bus. Just before the crash, his two older children had removed their seatbelts and buckled them over their younger sibling, who had not belted just before the impact.
Police from the 101st Precinct in Far Rockaway arrived on the scene, and EMS rushed the children and the bus driver to area hospitals. The eldest child sustained multiple facial fractures, the 11-year-old suffered multiple spinal cord fractures and a deep laceration to the face, and the youngest was treated for a laceration to the head. The bus driver was treated for head pain and nausea.
Deslances’ blood alcohol content was .17 percent, above the DWI threshold of .08 percent. He also tested positive for the presence of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. A court-authorized search of the defendant’s car found multiple marijuana cigarettes and an open
bottle of beer. Deslances was allegedly driving at the time of the crash with a suspended license.
“The defendant, as alleged, made the irresponsible and selfish decision to get behind the wheel after drinking alcohol and consuming marijuana, putting the lives of his own children at risk as well as everyone else on the road,” Katz said. “There is absolutely no excuse for driving while impaired and the grand jury returned very serious charges against the defendant.”
If convicted, Deslances faces up to five to 15 years in prison. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Hartofilis ordered Deslances to return to court on Feb. 4.
