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Drivers With Prior Arrests

Thu, 10/10/2024 - 11:31

Christopher Ryder of Montauk, 63, was driving west on Montauk Highway near Beech Street in the hamlet last Thursday when, East Hampton Town police said, his 2001 Ford crossed the double yellow line. After pulling him over, officers also noted that his license plate was not properly illuminated and that he’d failed to signal a right turn into a parking lot.

The driver’s eyes were “bloodshot and glassy,” police reported; his speech was slurred, he was unsteady when asked to stand up, and he performed “poorly” on field sobriety tests. He consented to a chemical test, the result of which was redacted in the report.

After a search of his records, police reportedly found a prior driving-while-intoxicated conviction from 2016. East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky arraigned Mr. Ryder on a charge of drunken driving with a prior conviction in the past 10 years, a class-E felony. He was released on his own recognizance, per New York State bail reform laws, and is to return to Justice Court on Oct. 31.

Adrian Vinicio Ortiz-Zhizhin of Mastic, 27, was arrested on the same charge on Sept. 30. He was allegedly found in a parked car on Queens Lane in East Hampton, asleep in the driver’s seat with the key in the ignition.

He too showed signs of intoxication and failed the roadside sobriety test, police said, adding that a search of his criminal history turned up a D.W.I. conviction in 2018. Justice Tekulsky arraigned Mr. Ortiz-Zhizhin the next day, releasing him on his own recognizance, again per bail reform laws, to be back in court on Oct. 30.

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On June 23, a Subaru S.U.V. rear-ended a Toyota S.U.V. at Carl Fisher Plaza in Montauk. That evening, two other S.U.V.s collided in Wainscott and had to be towed away. And more news of the roads.

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A Penske rental truck collided with the Long Island Rail Road overpass on Cove Hollow Road in East Hampton Village shortly before 4 p.m. on June 26, resulting in train service delays between the Southampton and Montauk stations.

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Driver Leaves Path of Destruction at Montauk Art Show

Early Sunday morning, it looked as if a small tornado had torn through the Montauk Green and the Montauk Artists Association Art Show. Instead, East Hampton Town police say the destruction — which wiped out the inventory of some participating artists — was caused by a drunken driver.

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