Police & Courts

An East Hampton man arrested on May 28 found himself in trouble with town police again four days later, and it all started when a 2012 Dodge Ram pickup truck was reported stolen from an undisclosed location on Gingerbread Lane in East Hampton Village.

East Hampton Town and Sag Harbor Village police levied misdemeanor drunken driving charges against four drivers over the last 11 days.

Early on the evening of June 1, the presence of a homeless man outside Stop and Shop prompted two calls, but officers were unable to locate him. A man asleep in his silver Lincoln in the store's parking lot was the object of another call the next day. He told police he was about to go home. 

A Maidstone Avenue woman told police on May 26 that her neighbor had moved survey stakes a foot or so from where they belonged, making her property that much smaller. She was advised that it was a civil matter.

Despite the cold, rainy weather, a number of arrests over the last week signaled the start of the busy season on the South Fork.

Injuries were reported in two traffic accidents last week, though neither required a trip to the hospital.

Despite the unprecedented challenges of policing during a pandemic and nationwide scrutiny in the wake of multiple civilian deaths while in police custody, Chief Michael Sarlo was upbeat in summarizing the East Hampton Town Police Department's annual report to the town board.

Joseph Keane of Amagansett, 59, was driving a 2013 Toyota at about 5:30 p.m. on May 22 when, headed west on Amagansett Main Street, he attempted to make a left turn toward Bluff Road and struck a telephone pole. Mr. Keane, who has a previous conviction for driving while intoxicated within the past 10 years, could not perform roadside sobriety tests, reported East Hampton Town police, who charged him with felony D.W.I.

Two saves on the water over the holiday weekend were efficient and without major injury, a good warm-up for chaotic summer months likely to come. One involved a kiteboarder tangled in his equipment and the other a pair of inflatable boats, each with five people on board, that were caught in two-to-three-foot waves in significant winds.

Highlights of a quiet week included a report of "a dog appearing to be a pit bull" wandering on Newtown Lane without an owner at 9 p.m. on May 17. Police did not find it.

Stephanie McNamara Bitis, a former general manager of Long Island Radio Broadcasting, admitted in November to using a company credit card for more than 600 personal expenses, but it wasn't until last week that her attorney and the assistant United States attorney prosecuting the case agreed on the exact dollar figure involved.

"Three images of the male genitalia were spray-painted on either end of the fence" at 7 North Main Street on May 10, East Hampton Village police reported.