Former High School Athlete Charged With DWI After River Vale Crash

A multi-sport athlete from Rockland was drunk when his car jumped a curb, toppled a street sign and slammed into a telephone pole in River Vale, authorities said.

River Vale police
Photo Credit: *COURTESY: River Vale PD*

Jerry DeMarco

06/13/2019 5:31 p.m.

Raymond Amato, 22, of Pearl River was behind the wheel of a speeding car on Rivervale Road when an officer pulled behind him shortly before 3 a.m. May 26, police said.

Amato turned on to Prospect Avenue and immediately crashed, they said.

The officer found Amato assessing the damage, Detective Sergeant Peter Martin said.

He "immediately detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage on the driver’s breath," Martin said.

The officer also found an open bottle of vodka in the vehicle, he said.

Amato failed a sobriety field test, then registered above the legal limit on a breath test at headquarters, the sergeant said.

He received summonses for DWI, speeding, careless driving, failing to keep right and having an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle.

Amato, who works for a Manhattan-based company that sells cutlery, played baseball and football at Pearl River High School and was doing the same at St. Thomas Aquinas, records show.

He was released to a responsible adult pending court action, Martin said.

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