The Emergency Services Building was crowded with Blue at Friday’s East Hampton Village Board meeting, which featured Police Chief Jeff Erickson handing out awards and a promotion. Mayor Jerry Larsen also took part, handing out a new Top Cop award, which he said will be an annual event.
Officer Robert Greene received that accolade, along with a departmental recognition award for his role in the Aug. 31 arrest of Alexis Ramirez-Reyes, who was carrying a loaded handgun, found during a traffic stop. Officer Greene also arrested 18 drivers for driving while intoxicated in 2024, and received a separate award for “excellence in law enforcement” from the East Hampton Village Foundation.
“I have one of the best police departments,” said Chief Erickson, before he announced the promotion of Sgt. Steven Sheades to lieutenant.
Lieutenant Sheades started as a traffic control officer for the village in 1997, before becoming a police officer in 2004. Chief Erickson said he was instrumental in starting the village’s drone program and helped the department receive New York State Department of Criminal Justice System accreditation.
“I’m happy to be able to move him to the rank of lieutenant, where he will be one of my right-hand men, helping with daily operations and administrative policy,” said Chief Erickson, who then presented Lieutenant Sheades with a new badge as his wife, children, and parents looked on. His father, Steve Sheades, served the village as a dispatcher for many years.
Lieutenant Sheades also received a departmental recognition award for helping to save the life of Virginia Morgan, on Aug. 7, when she choked on a piece of steak in the Palm restaurant. Officers Steven Niggles and Brandon Esposito received the same award.
Officers John Clark and Brendan Worth administered CPR and used an automatic external defibrillator to restore a pulse to a man who went into cardiac arrest while sitting in his car at Stephen Hand’s Path and Montauk Highway. They saved his life and were recognized with departmental awards.
“The subject was transported to Southampton Hospital and is alive today for the equipment we had and the training and their being in the right place at the right time,” said Chief Erickson.
Officer Clark received an additional award for assisting in the aforementioned Aug. 31 traffic stop that yielded the loaded handgun. Sgt. Wayne Gauger, who was supervising that evening, also received a recognition award.
“Traffic stops are dangerous, even here in East Hampton,” said Chief Erickson. Lt. Jack Bartelme was recognized for saving the life of a Bank of America employee who choked while she was eating lunch. “He administered the Heimlich maneuver, which dislodged the food from the unconscious female’s airway. She became conscious and was transported. She’s alive today, I believe, because of the quick thinking of Lieutenant Bartelme. The department is going to issue him the department recognition award for a life-saving act.”
In other police department news, the village board passed a resolution stating its support for the “Protect our Pedestrians” legislation pending in the State Senate. The proposal authorizes villages to participate in a pilot program to install and operate a stop sign photo-violation monitoring system. Should the village successfully establish its own justice court, which has been discussed, it would be able to issue and collect fines through the new system.
