Two drivers were charged last week in unrelated cases with fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance after East Hampton Town police found bags containing a “white rock-like substance,” which later tested positive for cocaine, in their vehicles.
Police stopped Sean D. Mott of Southampton, 36, at about 1 a.m. on July 6 on Hampton Street near Harrison Street Extension in Sag Harbor, and arrested him after spotting a plastic bag apparently containing the suspicious substance on the dashboard. He spent several hours in a holding cell at Wainscott headquarters before being arraigned in East Hampton in the morning by Justice David Filer, who released him on his own recognizance. He is due back in East Hampton Town Justice Court on Aug. 6.
That same night in Montauk, police stopped Travon E. Pettaway of Hampton Bays, 32, on Montauk Highway near South Embassy Street, following a call about a domestic disturbance. He was showing known signs of intoxication, they reported, and performed poorly on field sobriety tests.
After two clear purple plastic bags containing a “white powdery substance,” which also tested positive for cocaine, were discovered on the floor behind the driver’s seat of his white Hyundai sedan, he was charged with felony possession, as well as first-offense D.W.I. with a blood alcohol level of .08 or more, a misdemeanor; driving without a seatbelt or taillights and with one broken brake light, and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
Mr. Pettaway was taken into custody at around 10 p.m. and held for the rest of the night. Justice Filer released him in the morning on his own recognizance; he too is to return to court on Aug. 6.