A 63-year-old Bronx man with no criminal history was arrested on the afternoon of July 15 at Beyonce and Jay-Z's house in East Hampton Village's Georgica neighborhood after he drove his Subaru through the property's security gate.
According to village police, an investigation is ongoing, and it remains unclear if the man was targeting the house or the couple. He had no weapons or note explaining his actions.
Police said a family member told them they have no idea why he would be in East Hampton.
After he crashed through the gate and drove onto the property, he remained in the vehicle. He was met by a security team that instructed him to exit, and he complied, according to police. When police arrived, they found him restrained and sitting in front of his vehicle.
"He wasn't making threats. He seemed confused," Detective Sgt. Jennifer Dunn said by phone Friday. His car had significant front-end damage, according to the police report.
The man complained of pain. He was transported to the Stony Brook East Hampton Emergency Department for treatment. He was released and arraigned last Thursday. His vehicle was impounded.
A security guard told police he was stationed in a booth when he watched the man's car "driving at a high rate of speed up the driveway," according to the report, and subsequently failing "to stop at the closed mechanical driveway gates," which were severely damaged.
Detective Dunn said that after the man was arrested for criminal mischief in the second degree and criminal trespass in the third, village police used the Flock license plate reader camera network to trace his movements before the incident.
"He came into the village in the early morning, Wednesday, and drives out to Montauk, for what purpose, I don't know," Detective Dunn said. "Then he comes back through the village, goes up to Main Beach, sits at the head of the beach, and drives back out to Montauk. Then he drives back to Main Beach and ends up down in the Georgica Pond area."
The man had attempted to get into another house first, but the homeowner said "no" and the man "left with no problem," according to Detective Dunn. The homeowner called the police.
Village police try to keep in contact with the many private security teams that are spread throughout the municipality. It's not clear if Beyonce and Jay-Z were home at the time of the gate crashing.
"This could be a health issue," said Detective Dunn, "but we have to treat it as a crime until proven otherwise."