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Bright Lights, Bad Lights

Thu, 09/22/2022 - 10:02

Local police made two drunken-driving arrests in the town last week and one in the village.

East Hampton Village police stopped a brown Ford F-150 pickup truck at around 11 p.m. on Friday, saying they saw it swerving back and forth on Main Street near Newtown Lane. The driver, Vicente Orellana of East Hampton, 51, failed sobriety tests, according to police, and was subsequently charged with two driving while intoxicated misdemeanors, as well as six traffic violations. He complained of chest pains while being booked, and was escorted to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital for evaluation and treatment before being returned to headquarters for arraignment. Mr. Orellana was released on his own recognizance and has a virtual court date on Oct. 20. 

Edward Welker of Maryland, 42, allegedly failed to dim his bright lights for oncoming cars, police reported, while driving on Three Mile Harbor Road near Neighborhood House, East Hampton, around midnight on Sept. 12. Police stopped his 2014 Toyota and charged him with two misdemeanor counts of driving while intoxicated after he agreed to take the sobriety tests.

Nikhil Etikela of Connecticut, 21, was driving a 2021 Tesla Model 3 on Montauk Highway near Upland Road in Montauk on Sept. 4 at 3:30 a.m. when he was pulled over for “nonfunctioning tail lights.” He too wound up facing two counts of misdemeanor drunken driving.

On the Police Logs 03.21.24

A 37-year-old Montauk man attempted to make a fire in a barrel at the Montauk Skate Park to "grill some burgers while he and friends skated" on the afternoon of March 13. Someone called the police, who told the man it was against the rules. He apologized and put the fire out.

Mar 21, 2024

Policing East Hampton in 2023: A Look at the Statistics

In 2023, for 911 calls classified as "highest priority," the East Hampton Town Police Department's average response time was 5 minutes, 38 seconds. Officers made 163 drunken-driving arrests, assisted on 2,530 medical calls and nearly 1,800 fire-related emergencies, and logged 12 "use of force" incidents over the 12-month period. Those were just a few of the statistics presented by Chief Michael Sarlo to the East Hampton Town Board last week, capping off a year of protecting 70 square miles from Wainscott to Montauk.

Mar 21, 2024

Sexual Assault Investigation

A 29-year-old East Hampton woman went to police headquarters on March 4 to report being the victim of sexual assault, stemming from an incident on Feb. 23 at a house in town.

Mar 13, 2024

On the Police Logs 03.14.24

Police were called Friday afternoon to investigate a report that people were camping illegally in the Grace Estate Preserve. They came upon three men from Nassau County who’d put up a tent and built a campfire. Police told them to put out the fire, then issued a ticket for open burning and directed them to leave immediately.

Mar 14, 2024

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