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Three Drivers Face Charges

Thu, 03/02/2023 - 10:33

David Contreras-Galarza, 23, was driving a 2009 Toyota on Accabonac Road near Abraham’s Path in East Hampton Saturday night just before 10 when he was involved in a “reportable motor vehicle accident.”

The town police report did not give particulars, but officers said that Mr. Contreras-Galarza was found standing outside his vehicle with “bloodshot eyes and slurred speech.” He did not perform to their satisfaction on a roadside sobriety test, they said, and was charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, a first offense. A second misdemeanor was added for allegedly driving with a blood alcohol content of greater than .08 of 1 percent.

Jose Velasquez of Riverhead, 57, was hit last Thursday with two felony charges, police said, for driving while highly intoxicated and with a recent prior D.W.I. His 2020 Dodge Ram was pulled over on Springs-Fireplace Road near Jackson Avenue in East Hampton after crossing the double-yellow lane divider “several times,” according to the report.

He allegedly failed the field tests and was later determined to have a blood alcohol content of greater than .08 of 1 percent. Mr. Velasquez was convicted of drunken driving in 2019, police determined.

Also charged with two alcohol-related misdemeanors was Edras Gomez-Tellez of East Hampton, 37, whose Ford Suburban was stopped on Route 114 near Stonewall Court on the evening of Feb. 22. The Ford had crossed the double-yellow line “multiple times,” police said, and also swerved onto the shoulder and failed to maintain its lane.

Mr. Gomez-Tellez, after failing the sobriety tests, was charged with the two D.W.I. offenses.

East Hampton Ambulance Department Gets County Nod

The Suffolk County Regional Emergency Services Council voted on March 12 to expand the operating territory of the East Hampton Village Ambulance Department to include the Northwest Fire Protection District and the East Hampton Water Supply Area. This came after a contentious public hearing at LTV Studios on Feb. 16.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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