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A Billy Club in Plain Sight

Thu, 03/31/2022 - 10:58

Late on the afternoon of March 21, an East Hampton Village officer watched Craig Workman, 31, drive a 2021 Mercedes-Benz north on Main Street, cross the double yellow lines, and make an unsafe left turn. As Mr. Workman, an East Hampton resident, was being pulled over, the car smacked into the curb, causing it to stop.

The officer reported that a billy club was in plain sight in the rear of the vehicle. Mr. Workman’s breath smelled strongly of alcohol, his speech was slurred, and he was unsteady on his feet, according to the report. He fumbled for his paperwork, and when asked for the registration handed the officer his “vehicle identification card.” Asked if he’d had anything to drink, he reportedly relied that I had two drinks earlier.

Mr. Workman, who initially refused to submit to a breath test, was charged with driving while intoxicated, and held overnight. At police headquarters, he did take a breath test, which raised the charge to aggravated D.W.I. He was additionally charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and appeared in East Hampton Town Justice Court the following morning. He is due to return there on April 21.

John Contrerassuscal of Hampton Bays, 34, driving a 2014 Honda, ran a stop sign at the intersection of Atwell Street and Muir Boulevard in East Hampton on the night of March 22, town police reported. His speech was slurred, they said, and he performed poorly on a field sobriety test. During the traffic stop, the officer noted a strong odor of alcohol on Mr. Contrerassuscal’s breath, and that his speech was slurred. He was charged with misdemeanor drunken driving, a first offense, and held for the remainder of the night before being released in the morning on his own recognizance. He is due back in Justice Court on April 20.

A third man charged with D.W.I., Denis Diaz-Gavilanes of East Hampton, 26, was injured early Monday morning when he lost control of his 2011 Honda Pilot on Morris Park Lane in East Hampton and struck a parked vehicle. The car then collided with a mailbox, a fence, bushes, and finally another mailbox, before coming to a halt.

Police found Mr. Diaz-Gavilanes outside the car, which was heavily damaged. His performance on the sobriety tests was poor, they said, and he too faces a first-offense misdemeanor charge of drunken driving. Due to his injuries, he was given an appearance ticket and taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital for treatment rather than to court. He is to be arraigned on April 13.

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A dog had been barking on and off in a fenced-in backyard for four days, a Springs-Fireplace Road neighbor reported on the night of Oct.15, adding that the house appeared to be empty and abandoned. Police went to the property and found a large black-and-white husky, “whimpering and shivering.”

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