Summer Is Ending, but Arrests Continue

Jose M. Chuchuca-Loja, 37, an East Hampton Village resident, was driving a 1995 Toyota Celica, police said, when he struck another car at the intersection of Newtown Lane and Main Street and drove away. A Carlos Taxi driver, who saw what happened, called police and then followed the Toyota to the 23-hour parking lot near Lumber Lane.

East Hampton Village police said the car was not hard to find because it had front-end damage, a broken axle, and smoke coming from the engine. Police said they found Mr. Chuchuca-Loja running away from the car. When asked about the accident, police said his answer was, “I don’t know.” When pressed, he reportedly replied, “Oh, the car.” Police reported that he then said, “Just arrest me. Take me.” At police headquarters on Cedar Street his blood-alcohol reading was 0.17, over twice the legal limit.

Because of a prior misdemeanor driving while intoxicated conviction in Peekskill, N.Y., in 2007, the new charges are felonies. In addition to D.W.I., they are unlicensed driving and leaving the scene of an accident. Bail was set Monday at $4,000, which was posted.

A 2014 Jeep Cherokee being driven by Hugo Marsans, 19, of Southampton was stopped by village police early Saturday morning on Woods Lane for alleged multiple moving violations, including speeding. Police said he hit 62 miles per hour in a 30 m.p.h. zone on Woods Lane.

His relatively low blood-alcohol reading of 0.11, combined with the fact that he had no prior record, could lend itself to a negotiated reduction down to a violation.

Town Charges

A Springs man, Sergio Naula, 32, was also arrested last week on a felony drunken-driving charge. According to East Hampton Town police, Mr. Naula was driving a 2002 Mazda erratically on Springs-Fireplace Road early on Aug. 17 and crossing lane lines before turning into a driveway without signaling. Coincidentally, he had a prior conviction, also in Peekskill, in 2012.

He is facing an aggravated drunken-driving charge, with police saying his blood-alcohol level recorded at headquarters in Wainscott was 0.25. The legal limit is 0.08.

A 30-year-old Manhattanite, Pasha Aziz, was scheduled to be arraigned yesterday at the misdemeanor level of drunken driving in East Hampton Town Justice Court, having been arrested in Montauk Aug. 16. Mr. Aziz was driving a 2014 Audi when he allegedly crossed the double-yellow line on South Edgemere Street near Carl Fisher Plaza. He also was charged  with driving with a suspended license.

Stopped a little after 10 p.m., he spent the night in a holding cell in the Wainscott headquarters, where he refused to take the breath test, police said. His license was automatically suspended. However, he was released the next morning after posting $100 bail. Such pre-arraignment releases are rare for the East Hampton Town Police Department. Capt. Chris Anderson explained Tuesday that the need for additional paperwork triggered the early release.

An 18-year-old woman was arrested on a D.W.I. charge during the early morning hours of Aug. 17. She was pulled over by East Hampton Town police on Abraham’s Landing Road, Amagansett. Police said they were withholding further details because of her age.

Matthew Patrick Rice, 20, of Bridgehampton, was arrested early Sunday morning. He was driving a 1998 Nissan on Town Lane when, according to town police, he drove off the road onto its grassy shoulder. At headquarters, a blood-alcohol reading of 0.21 was well over the 0.18 number that triggers an elevated charge of aggravated D.W.I.

He was released later that morning without having to post bail, but with a warning from East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky. “You can’t help how you’re dressed when you’re arrested,” he told Mr. Rice, who was casually attired in a white T-shirt. “When you come back to court, you dress showing some respect for the court.”

In Sag Harbor

Sag Harbor Village police made an arrest on a drunken-driving charge this past week, too.

Troy M. Flack, 50, of Sag Harbor was charged at the misdemeanor level on Aug. 19 after police said the 2015 Ford Focus he was driving hit a stone wall. An officer saw the car heading north at about 3:30 a.m., just before it  crashed into the wall, at 68 West Water Street. Police said he refused to take the breath test at headquarters. In addition to being charged with D.W.I. he was charged with refusing to take the field test, making an unsafe lane change, and not wearing a seat belt, which are violations. He was held for arraignment in Sag Harbor Village Justice Court later that morning.