Metro

Accused drunk driver in fatal LI crash finally lands in jail

A Long Island man who was freed without bail after a fatal drunken crash in Suffolk County Sunday is finally behind bars — but on an unrelated Nassau County case.

Nassau County Court Judge William O’Brien on Thursday ordered Jordan Randolph, 40, held without bail for violating probation from a 2017 drunk driving conviction, authorities said.

O’Brien issued the warrant Wednesday following news reports about Randolph’s no-bail release in Suffolk County Monday after the crash that killed Jonathan Flores-Maldonado, 27, according to a report by News12 Long Island.

“It is now my concern that in regard to the violation of probation, the defendant is no longer supervisable in the community and that I should, therefore, issue an order of commitment,” the judge said, according to the report.

Randolph’s is a case study in the confusion in the state criminal justice system since new bail reform measures went into effect Jan. 1, barring judges from setting bail on most misdemeanor charges and many nonviolent felonies.

The new measures allowed Randolph to walk free on a DWI charge after Sunday’s crash because Suffolk prosecutors, who are still investigating, have not charged him with vehicular manslaughter.

But some officials say he should’ve been in jail two weeks before the fatal crash.

That’s because Randolph, who has a lengthy criminal record that includes three drunken-driving convictions, was also arrested Jan. 1 in Suffolk for disabling a court-ordered ignition lock device.

At the time, Randolph was on probation for the 2017 conviction, for which he served one year in jail.

Jonathan Armand Flores-Maldonado
Jonathan Armand Flores-MaldonadoGoFundMe

One state official told The Post that the arrest violated his probation and would’ve been enough to at least hold Randolph pending a probation hearing.

“If someone is suspected of violating their probation they can be held pending a hearing,” the state source said. “The reforms did nothing to change that and frankly, someone needs to address why this didn’t happen here.”

But the Nassau DA’s office disagreed, saying that violation does not carry mandatory jail time and therefore would not have been enough to throw Randolph behind bars.

Besides, the office said, Suffolk never notified them Randolph was busted there Jan. 1.

Suffolk officials disagree. Jason Elan, a spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, told The Post that the day after the Jan. 1 arrest “Suffolk County Probation notified Nassau County Probation.”

Regardless, Randolph could have still been jailed on Friday, just two days before the fatal crash.

He was back in Nassau court to plead guilty to the parole violation, which would have sent him to jail.

In fact, Randolph had been in court to take that plea two other times since November. But, because he had yet to be fingerprinted, O’Brien had been unable to accept his plea — and Randolph remained free.

O’Brien finally issued the warrant Wednesday and had Randolph taken into custody.

Randolph’s lawyer in the fatal crash case, Peter Henry Mayer, declined to discuss the case.