East Hampton Village
The automatic fire alarm at John Marshall Elementary went off at 2 p.m. on Friday, alerting village police and the school that there was smoke in the boiler room. A lieutenant discovered a small fire in an oil drip pan in the room, and was able to extinguish it before firefighters arrived. A subsequent investigation by the fire marshal determined that the fire had been caused by “welding by-product,” left over during recent updates to the heating system. Village police remained on the scene until all students had been dismissed.
A woman called 911 Friday evening complaining that she was being harassed. A “middle-aged man” was taking pictures of her in front of Starbucks, she told police, who advised her that taking pictures in a public place “is a legal practice.”
There was a “suspicious person” in the Verizon store on Park Place, an employee reported Saturday evening. The man, wearing “all black clothing and a pair of ski goggles,” had been “interacting” with the cellphone displays, the employee said, and when he approached him, had placed his index finger in front of his face and refused to acknowledge him. Police found the man sitting in a Dodge van parked outside the store and attempted to speak with him, but the man, using “hand gestures,” waved them away. A computer check of the license plates revealed him to be from Gary, Ind., with a suspended license. He was placed under arrest and also charged with the violations of driving with a cracked taillight, illegible license plates, a tinted windshield, and tinted front side windows. He was taken to village headquarters for processing and released with a ticket to appear in court at the end of the month.
There were horses out in the field on Montauk Highway and Cove Hollow Road during the storm, a caller reported Sunday afternoon, requesting an animal well-being check. Village police contacted the county S.P.C.A., which confirmed that the animals should be inside during the northeaster, and then called the property owner, who stated that she would bring the horses into the barn.
Montauk
A visitor from Patterson, N.Y., called police on the night of Oct. 5 to report that her blue luggage bag, containing approximately $3,000 worth of clothing, had been taken from her vehicle while it was parked at the Lions Field public restrooms between 8 and 9:30 p.m. She’d gone into the restroom to check on her passenger, she said, and noticed that the rear tailgate was open when she returned to the car, but did not notice that the luggage was missing until they arrived at the Montauk Blue Hotel on South Emerson Street. The case was closed last week after no leads or suspects could be found; the woman said she understood no more action would be taken but requested documentation of the theft for insurance purposes.
Springs
A man was walking around his gated backyard without permission, a Fort Pond Boulevard resident reported last Thursday afternoon, and when questioned stated he “had a right to be there because the house is for sale.” He assured the man that it was not for sale, the caller said, which began a verbal dispute. Police stopped a man matching the homeowner’s description driving on Springs-Fireplace Road, who told the officer he was a contractor who goes to “future foreclosed residences” to purchase and potentially sell the properties. The homeowner asked that the man be barred from his property and requested documentation of the incident, while the intruder stated that he “did not want any further involvement” with the property and would not be returning.
Wainscott
A former business associate accosted him at a job site and informed his co-workers that he was looking for him, a contractor told police on Oct. 10, adding that he did not want to see the man anymore and requesting that he be banned from the site. When an officer called the man on Friday to inform him of the ban, he replied that he did not live here and would not be able to sign a formal notice of trespass, but that he was aware of the terms and had no plans to return to the property.
