No Holiday for Young Drivers

A 20-year-old Sag Harbor woman was charged with drunken driving in Montauk early Saturday morning after her 2009 Lincoln Suburban swerved onto the shoulder of West Lake Drive near the docks and head-on into a 2015 Chevrolet Camaro. Her air bag deployed, and Morgan Leigh Vaughn emerged from the vehicle unhurt, but shaken.

East Hampton Town police said she failed roadside sobriety tests and refused at first to take a breath test at headquarters. However, about two hours after her arrest she consented, and the result was a reading of .17, over twice the legal limit.

She allegedly told police she had been drinking vodka at a friend’s house, and at the Memory Motel bar as well. Brian DeSesa, the lawyer who represented her at her arraignment later that morning, told East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana that Ms. Vaughn was due to return to college in North Carolina, where she is a junior, on Aug. 18. “I don’t know how quickly this case is going to get resolved,” Justice Rana warned. “You’re under 21, there was a motor vehicle accident and a .17 reading.”

Justice Rana released the young woman to her parents, who were in the courtroom, without bail, but with a future date on her criminal calendar.

A 16-year-old East Hampton High School student driving a 2013 Ford F150XLT fled the scene after an accident Sunday night on Gingerbread Lane and King Street, according to East Hampton Village police. They caught up with the Springs youth, whose name was withheld because of his age, at the Speedway gas station in Wainscott, and charged him with unlicensed driving as well as driving while intoxicated, both misdemeanors. He was released without bail after a Monday arraignment.

Also charged with D.W.I., after a midnight car crash on the Fourth of July, was Alexander Rodriguez-Orozco, 22, of Springs, whose 2008 Chevrolet work van was speeding, police said, on Floyd Street near Spinner Lane, when he lost control. The van shot up a driveway on Floyd and crashed into a concrete pillar. The driver was still behind the wheel when police arrived. Both he and his passenger were unhurt. Bail was set the next morning at $500, which was posted.

A Scottish-born private chef to an English financier who owns an estate in Water Mill told police before they arrested her that she had had only half a glass of wine. Her breath test, if accurate, told another story, with a .19 reading, triggering a raised charge of aggravated drunken driving. Carolyn Carina H. McLauchlan, 31, was driving erratically in a 2013 Porsche on Montauk Highway in Wainscott early Friday morning, police said, before being pulled over. She was released later that morning without bail.

Another person from across the water, in this case Long Island Sound, faces the same charge. Marko Lujic, a 36-year-old surgeon from New Haven, registered .19 in his breath test at headquarters, Sag Harbor police said, after being pulled over on Main Street there early Saturday morning. Police said he had an almost-full container of Peroni beer in the cup holder when they stopped his 2014 Audi for speeding. Bail was set at Sag Harbor Village Justice Court by Justice Rana, who had a very busy weekend, at $500.

Joshua Andrew Miller of Scarsdale, N.Y., 25, was driving a 2009 Porsche on Pantigo Road without headlights, East Hampton Village police said, leading to a stop on Saturday night. His parents were in the courtroom Sunday for his arraignment. They learned, as Justice Rana suspended his license, that his breath test had produced a reading of .15. He was released without bail.

Town police arrested two Mercedes-Benz drivers at almost the same moment early Sunday morning. Besides drunken driving, each was charged with unlicensed driving, their licenses having been suspended by New York City courts.

Christopher R. Senner of Manhattan, 29, ran a stop sign at West Lake Drive and Montauk Highway in Montauk before being stopped, police said. He refused to take a breath test, earning himself another suspension for the next year. Claudia J. Castillo, of Wernersville, Pa., 43, blew a .13, according to police. She had been pulled over on Stephen Hand’s Path in East Hampton. Justice Rana set bail for both at $250 during their arraignments later that morning.

Village police arrested Rigoberto N. Rivera Espinoza early Sunday, almost directly in front of their Cedar Street headquarters, after stopping his 2013 Volkswagen Jetta for swerving. He too was charged with unlicensed driving. His .11 reading was one of the lowest of the week, and he was released on $250 bail.

Douglas Quitman Grey, 37, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was stopped in Sag Harbor after driving a 2017 Jeep early last Thursday the wrong way down a one-way street, Washington Street. Police said his breath test produced a reading of .14. He was released after being arraigned.

Town police stopped Sabina Carter’s 2017 Volkswagen around midnight Sunday. She is a sales rep who travels different routes to meet clients, she told Justice Rana, who warned her that it may be difficult to arrange a hardship license allowing her to drive to and from work, because such licenses usually apply to travel between specific points. Her .12 number was relatively low. She posted $250 bail.

Julia B. Gaines, 23, of Mattituck was arrested by Sag Harbor police early July 5. Her .11 was also low, and she was released without bail.

The lowest reading of the week was that of Glen Ross Dinger, who turns 27 Sunday. The Holtsville man, who was arrested early Monday morning in East Hampton Village, reportedly recorded a reading of .08, which was just high enough to earn a place on Justice Rana’s crowded criminal calendar.