NEW ROCHELLE, NY — James O’Toole, 55, of New Rochelle, NY was arrested by the New York State Police and charged with Driving While Intoxicated (Refusal) — 1st Offense, a Misdemeanor, after he was pulled over around midnight of St. Patrick’s Day. The time of the arrest was booked as 12:58 a.m, on March 18, 2021.
O’Toole was processed at the State Police Barracks in New Rochelle. He was released to a sober third party with an appearance ticket to return to the City of New Rochelle Court on April 14th, according to a State Police spokesperson.
A refusal to take a breathalyzer test in New York State triggers an automatic one-year license suspension and a fine of $500, in addition to any sentence related to a conviction on the underlying DWI charge.
O’Toole is a popular and well-known figure in New Rochelle. Each year for many years he has dressed up to play Santa Claus — riding atop a New Rochelle Fire Truck in the City’s annual Thanksgiving Day Parade as well as making dozens of appearances at toy drives, tree-lighting ceremonies, and visiting with children at area hospitals.
In 2020, O’Toole greeted children and their parents as Santa at a drive-thru event held in front of New Rochelle City Hall.
O’Toole, a bartender by trade, has for many years worked the bar at Dudley’s, during the WVOX Radio St. Patrick’s Day live broadcast and party.
O’Toole ran for Mayor of New Rochelle in 2015 as the Independence Party candidate. He received 3,548 votes, a surprising 38.20% of the total, in losing to the incumbent Democratic Mayor Noam Bramson.
Bramson has called O’Toole “one of New Rochelle’s irreplaceable characters.”
It remains to be seen if there are any magistrates in New Rochelle willing to be known as the Judge Who Convicted Santa Claus.
The New York State Police increased patrols to combat drunk, impaired and reckless driving during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations between March 16th and March 21st as part of a special traffic enforcement detail funded by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee.
Additional DWI patrols and a number of sobriety checkpoints were active during the enforcement period.
During last year’s St. Patrick’s Day impaired driving enforcement, Troopers arrested 203 people for DWI, issued 372 tickets for distracted driving and 12,279 tickets in total.
UPDATE 4/14/21: Former New Rochelle Mayoral Candidate James O’Toole arraigned on St. Patrick’s Day DWI . Pleads Non-Guilty. Ordered by Judge Rice to surrender his NYS Driver’s License.