Police & Courts

On Pantigo Road near Bostwick’s, a 38-year-old man who appeared to be intoxicated was questioned by police on the afternoon of April 7. He said he wasn’t causing trouble, just canvassing businesses looking for work. Police drove him back to his house. Eight days before, the same man had been seen opening a storage shed and walk-in cooler behind Rowdy Hall in Amagansett, and he was later accused of taking 20 containers of beer and four containers of iced tea. According to the official report, petty larceny charges may be pending.

The Suffolk County Police Department on Wednesday identified a woman killed in a hit-and-run crash on Monday as Alison Pfefferkorn of Sag Harbor.

Crews from five volunteer fire departments battled a basement blaze, and two more stood at the ready in case further help was needed, late Thursday night at a house on Ely Brook to Hand's Creek Road in the Northwest Woods section of East Hampton.

On March 27, a previously confidential legal document related to an ongoing complaint by Police Officer Andrea Kess against East Hampton Town and its Police Department became public when it was filed in a federal court as evidence in a new civil rights lawsuit, brought by Lt. Peter Powers of the town police. Lieutenant Powers is charging that the document, known as a “position statement,” has harmed his professional and personal reputation.

Police responded to the East Hampton I.G.A. shortly after 5 p.m. on April 1 after the manager called in a report of an “unwanted guest.” After an investigation, a 38-year-old man was arrested and charged with two counts of petty larceny: one for taking 24 cans of beer and leaving without paying for them; the other for taking a white Huffy bicycle that did not belong to him. He was released on his own recognizance to await a court date.

East Hampton Town police have levied felony charges against three drivers on local roads within the last two weeks.

A 48-year-old Brooklyn man was seen and heard knocking on doors at Daunt’s Albatross Motel at around 1 a.m. Saturday, and police were summoned. The man was discovered to have an active arrest warrant out of New York Police Department jurisdiction. He was taken to the railroad station to catch the next westbound train.

At his house in East Hampton Village, a 61-year-old man dropped a lighted cigarette on the floor, sparking a minor fire-and-smoke situation. The fire chief described the extent of the damage as “smoldering clothing.”

The East Hampton Village Fire Department doesn’t usually respond to fires in the middle of the Ozark Mountains, but in a sense, after donating a Spartan pumper fire truck, replete with 4,000 feet of hose and a 500-gallon water tank, to the Eminence Area Volunteer Fire Department in Missouri Friday, it’s done just that.

In 2023, for 911 calls classified as "highest priority," the East Hampton Town Police Department's average response time was 5 minutes, 38 seconds. Officers made 163 drunken-driving arrests, assisted on 2,530 medical calls and nearly 1,800 fire-related emergencies, and logged 12 "use of force" incidents over the 12-month period. Those were just a few of the statistics presented by Chief Michael Sarlo to the East Hampton Town Board last week, capping off a year of protecting 70 square miles from Wainscott to Montauk.

A 37-year-old Montauk man attempted to make a fire in a barrel at the Montauk Skate Park to "grill some burgers while he and friends skated" on the afternoon of March 13. Someone called the police, who told the man it was against the rules. He apologized and put the fire out.

The Suffolk County Regional Emergency Services Council voted on March 12 to expand the operating territory of the East Hampton Village Ambulance Department to include the Northwest Fire Protection District and the East Hampton Water Supply Area. This came after a contentious public hearing at LTV Studios on Feb. 16.