Wanted Ride in Benz, Got Ride in Patrol Car

A Montauk man is facing a felony charge of criminal mischief after damaging a 2016 Mercedes-Benz S.U.V. around midnight Saturday, outside Liar’s Saloon on West Lake Drive in Montauk, East Hampton Town police said. 

Toby J. Logue, 42, was intoxicated, according to the police, when he left the bar and walked over to the car, which belongs to Mark Zittman. Seated behind the wheel was Kevin Moos, according to the police. Possibly mistaking the vehicle for one for hire, Mr. Logue opened the door and asked to be taken home, police said. The driver declined to give Mr. Logue a ride. Mr. Logue allegedly asked a second time, and was again denied. He closed the door, punched the side mirror, then kicked the side of the vehicle with enough force to cause about $1,000 in damage, police said. 

It is not the first time Mr. Logue has been arrested in or near a Montauk night spot. During the summer of 2014, he was charged with resisting arrest outside the Memory Motel, among other charges. This past summer, he was charged with harassment, after getting into an alleged altercation with an employee of Navy Beach. 

During his arraignment Sunday morning, his lawyer, Carl Irace, said, “He has no criminal convictions” in his past. Mr. Irace asked that Mr. Logue be released without bail. 

Mr. Irace also questioned the police officers’ version of events outside of Liar’s Saloon the previous night, and said he believed that the charge would be handled, ultimately, in a non-criminal manner.

Justice Lisa R. Rana agreed that Mr. Logue had never been convicted of any charge more serious than a violation, but she pointed out that was because he had been allowed to plea-bargain down to a driving with ability impaired by alcohol charge, as opposed to the original charge of driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor. 

She also pointed out the seriousness of the current charge Mr. Logue is facing as she set bail at $1,500. After being told that he would post that amount, she warned, “Think long and hard about how you conduct yourself from this point on, because this is over.”

“We look forward to defending this case and telling Mr. Logue’s side of the story,” Mr. Irace said Tuesday.

In other news, a Wyandanch man who spends much of his time living and working in Montauk was arrested on a felony charge of cocaine possession after a traffic stop on Montauk Highway in East Hampton the night of Valentine’s Day. Milton McKoy, 46, was driving a 2008 Nissan Datsun when he was pulled over for speeding. Police said he had been going 47 miles per hour in a 40-mile-per-hour zone. According to the police, they found two small plastic packets of cocaine in the car, totaling over 500 milligrams. “I’m not proud of it,” Mr. McKoy allegedly told the arresting officer. “That’s coke.”

He was held overnight, and bail of $5,000 was posted after his arraignment last Thursday morning. 

Shortly after being released on $500 bail following two arrests in an eight-hour period, Brian K. Midgett Jr., 26, of Springs, was arrested yet again on misdemeanor drug-possession charges on Feb. 13. He was arrested in a complex of cottages on Three Mile Harbor Road. Police said that as they were questioning Mr. Midgett, a pill container holding nine tablets of oxycodone fell from the front pocket of his sweatshirt. They also said he was in possession of alprazolam, leading to a second misdemeanor charge. 

Justice Rana expressed great concern for Mr. Midgett’s well-being last Thursday during his latest arraignment. “It is a situation that is completely out of control,” she said. She set bail at $4,250, while offering the alternate possibility that if he enters an in-house treatment program he might be released. However, a family member posted bail that day.

His other two arrests last week were detailed in the Feb. 15 issue of this newspaper.