Police & Courts

To Cate Carbonaro, executive director of the East Hampton advocacy organization the Retreat, who has worked extensively with victims of sex and labor trafficking as a public defender, the split verdict in the federal criminal trial of Sean (Diddy) Combs presents a “stark reminder of how far we still have to go” to educate both the courts and the public about what the “often misunderstood” charge of sex trafficking really means.

Two drivers were charged with felonies in Sag Harbor over the Fourth of July weekend.

“You need to get out of my room,” a man yelled as he walked into a Surf Lodge hotel room just before midnight on Friday, waking up a New York City woman who had been asleep in the bed. She asked him to test the entry code for the room and closed the door behind him. He left when he was unable to unlock the door.

There were numerous minor fender-benders on local roads in the runup to the big holiday weekend, but only one was reported to have resulted in injuries.

The nonprofit EAC Network is seeking volunteers for the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program in Suffolk County to work with families and children involved in abuse and neglect cases to represent children’s best interests.

New details were revealed Wednesday about the fatal accident in Springs on June 15, as Luis Barrionuevo-Fuertes, the 18-year-old who was driving the car involved in the crash, appeared for arraignment in Riverhead on a long list of new criminal charges before Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski. If convicted of the top count of aggravated vehicular homicide, he could face up to 25 years in state prison.

Luis Gonzalo Barrionuevo-Fuertes, the 18-year-old East Hampton High School graduate who was driving the car involved in a fatal accident in Springs on the evening of June 15, is scheduled to have his first appearance in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Wednesday morning, and faces a long list of new criminal charges.

A Penske rental truck collided with the Long Island Rail Road overpass on Cove Hollow Road in East Hampton Village shortly before 4 p.m. on June 26, resulting in train service delays between the Southampton and Montauk stations.

On June 23, a Subaru S.U.V. rear-ended a Toyota S.U.V. at Carl Fisher Plaza in Montauk. That evening, two other S.U.V.s collided in Wainscott and had to be towed away. And more news of the roads.

Carrying four blaring smoke detectors, a North Haven man walked into Sag Harbor Village police headquarters on Saturday night and claimed that they had been going off in his house for three days and could not be deactivated. Police were unable to disable the alarms and contacted the fire marshal, who responded to the station and properly disposed of the devices.

Failed to yield, failed to signal, failed to stay in lane, a failed taillight, a failed roadside sobriety test.

Early Sunday morning, it looked as if a small tornado had torn through the Montauk Green and the Montauk Artists Association Art Show. Instead, East Hampton Town police say the destruction — which wiped out the inventory of some participating artists — was caused by a drunken driver.

Supreme Court Justice Timothy P. Mazzei approved a plea bargain on June 25 in the case of Darius Petty, 35, an East Hampton man accused of kidnapping and robbing three young men at knifepoint in the parking lot of the East Hampton Town Senior Center on Springs-Fireplace Road in September.

A woman who was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital after a May 2 car accident here had the misdemeanor drunken-driving charges against her dismissed on June 12 after a toxicology report from the hospital showed that she had no alcohol or drugs in her system.

There have been 12 cases filed in Suffolk County Supreme Court against Michael O’Sullivan and his L.L.C. Hampton Dream Properties, with plaintiffs, including several in East Hampton Town, alleging that they were the victims of a murky real estate scheme that defrauded them of millions of dollars.

Two S.U.V.s, one a Hyundai and the other a Mercedes, were badly damaged in a collision at the intersection of Stephen Hand’s Path and Potters Lane, off Huckleberry Lane in East Hampton, on the morning of June 20.

The attorney for the driver in a fatal Springs accident on June 15 confirmed on June 19 that the Suffolk County district attorney’s office had notified her that it would be convening a grand jury on upgraded charges the following day.

He was “just out for a walk” on the night of June 18, a Wooded Oak Lane man told officers responding to reports of a suspicious person in the area, before admitting that he’d been going through his neighbors’ mailboxes.

A dual-propeller airplane crash-landed at East Hampton Town Airport just before 8 p.m. Sunday, closing the airport for several hours. The pilot, Curtis Doupe, was the only person in the plane and was not injured.

East Hampton Town police were kept busy last week, with several traffic accidents resulting in injuries.

News of the death of Scarleth Milena Urgiles Samaniego Sunday night in a car accident in Springs shook the town at large, especially the East Hampton school community, coming as it did on the eve of the final day of classes at the high school.

The East Hampton Town Marine Patrol responded to a total of 18 search-and-rescue calls in 2024, a considerable jump from 11 in 2023 and nine the year before that.

A black Dodge Ram “with a possible dead body in the bed” was reported driving down Route 114 toward Sag Harbor on June 11. Village officers found the truck near the Breakwater Yacht Club, where they observed a “training mannequin” in the back.

An East Hampton High School student was killed and several other people were injured in a car accident on Sunday evening on Old Stone Highway in Springs. 

A 67-year-old East Hampton woman accused of driving her car into two teenage traffic control officers in Sag Harbor Village on May 17 pleaded not guilty to four charges — endangering the welfare of a child, harassment in the second degree, leaving the scene of an accident, and reckless endangerment — when she was arraigned Friday in front of Village Justice Carl Irace. 

Negligent left turns were blamed for two recent vehicle collisions that resulted in injuries, and a negligent merge for a third.

“Filming TikTok videos” was a Hawthorne Avenue man’s explanation when asked what he was doing in his Ford Mustang in the One Stop parking lot after 1 a.m. on Monday. The man produced the footage to quell any doubts and left the area without incident. 

At Provisions in Sag Harbor, a woman entered the cafe area with a dog, which is against store policy, and ignored repeated requests to leave, finally stating that she would “burn this f***ing store down.” The owner got her name from a one-star review she left on Google later that day, and called police.

A silver Honda attempting to park Monday afternoon in a handicapped space in front of the restaurant Lulu in Sag Harbor drove over the curb, onto the sidewalk, and into the building, knocking aside tables in the outdoor seating area. 

With a black Samurai-style sword in hand, a 33-year-old man from Newburgh, N.Y., allegedly threatened another man on Saturday night near Camp Hero on Coast Artillery Road in Montauk. His target locked himself in his car and called police as the sword-wielder approached.