Wilmer Patino of Riverhead, 44, was westbound on Montauk Highway near Stephen Hand's Path last Thursday when East Hampton Town police spotted him driving on the shoulder of the road "with his view obstructed," and pulled his 2015 Ford F-150 over. The driver's breath smelled of alcohol, they reported, and he performed poorly on roadside sobriety tests. He told the officer he'd had "one Heineken five minutes ago," and that he hadn't "had any lunch, three Heinekens." A Heineken bottle was found in his truck. While he was being processed, Mr. Patino said, "I haven't drank in four months. My friend invited me to his birthday. I effed up." Charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, he appeared in East Hampton Town Justice Court the morning after, and is due back there next Thursday.
On Main Street in Sag Harbor early Sunday morning, an officer clocked a 2012 gray Camaro going 43 miles per hour in a 20 m.p.h. zone. The driver, 42-year-old Joshua Miller of Sag Harbor, smelled strongly of alcohol, the officer reported, and was unable to maintain his balance. Back at Sag Village police headquarters, he submitted to both a pre-screening breathalyzer exam and a chemical test, which police said showed him to be intoxicated. Charged with misdemeanor D.W.I., he was held overnight for a morning appearance before Justice Lisa R. Rana, who released him on his own recognizance to await a future court date.
Also early Sunday on Main Street in Sag, Rene Abdo of Brooklyn, 44, was driving a white Nissan Rogue without headlights or taillights, according to village police, who watched as she stopped at an intersection and sat without moving for several minutes. She appeared disoriented, an officer said, and was eating food as he approached. He concluded, after smelling alcohol on her breath and from her slurred speech, that she was intoxicated. "I was working tonight training bartenders," she told him, "and I consume alcoholic drinks regularly while working. It's my job." She was held on a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving at police headquarters, where she first refused to take the breathalyzer test and then told officers she was having a panic attack. A village ambulance and E.M.T.s arrived, and Ms. Abdo was again asked to take the test but refused, stating only, "albuterol pump." She was taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, where she refused the test a third time, according to police, stating, "I don't want to hear it, I don't care."