Police & Courts

Several fire departments worked for four hours to tame a fire at a large house on La Forest Lane in East Hampton Saturday evening. 

The owners of a house where two sisters died in a fire while their family was vacationing there have admitted they rented the house illegally, built an outdoor kitchen with neither a construction permit nor an electrical inspection, and failed to make sure smoke and carbon monoxide alarms were working throughout the house.

East Hampton Town police blocked off roads in Montauk and had the Long Island Rail Road halt Montauk-bound trains on Friday afternoon as they responded to a possible “psychiatric emergency” at a house on Edgemere Street, not far from the train station.

Two bicyclists were involved in collisions in Montauk on the evening of Aug. 14.

Two Jersey City residents were set to return to East Hampton Town Justice Court on Thursday in a virtual follow-up after both were arraigned on July 26 on charges of possessing stolen property; one was additionally charged with felony drug possession.

A woman was out to dinner with friends at the Clubhouse on the night of Aug. 14 when, she told police, a man introduced himself to the group and they engaged in “casual conversation.” At the end of the night, she said, he asked if she wanted to hear a joke and slapped her in the face. He will be charged with harassment if found.

Police in East Hampton Town and Sag Harbor Village made two felony arrests last week, one allegedly involving drugs, the other alcohol.

East Hampton Town police and Suffolk County Crime Stoppers are searching for a suspect involved in what they called a home invasion on Old Stone Highway late Monday afternoon.

A Suffolk County Criminal Court judge set bail at $2 million cash each for two men charged earlier this month with drug trafficking in an alleged East Hampton operation that Assistant District Attorney Rob Archer said racked up $1 million in proceeds.

The Fire Department-sponsored fireworks show scheduled for Saturday night at East Hampton Village's Main Beach has been canceled, with a potential new date to be announced in the next two weeks. Main Beach has also been closed to swimming for the time being.

Two bicycle riders required medical attention recently after colliding with vehicles in East Hampton Village and Montauk.

Fire Department volunteers responded Wednesday night to a house on Cosdrew Lane, in East Hampton's Northwest Woods, where the basement had become smoky and electricity had partially gone out.

An Audi was stolen from a Jericho Lane driveway on Saturday morning. The owner logged in to her Audi account, she later told police, and noticed an E-Z Pass transaction at the Throgs Neck Bridge earlier that day. Police in Newark located and impounded the car, which she has since retrieved.

Last weekend was a busy one for East Hampton Village lifeguards, who made a total of 22 saves.

“Kids with a fishing net” were reported near Town Pond on the afternoon of July 31, and police went to check. One of the boys explained that he was using a pool net to retrieve a plastic bag from the pond, and he was allowed to proceed.

A multi-agency police task force made two nearly simultaneous arrests around noon on Friday, resulting in multiple felony charges for two men accused of selling narcotics.

Two houses in East Hampton were damaged by a lightning strike late Tuesday afternoon that sent an occupant of one to the hospital. The clap of thunder that quickly followed was so loud that it shook houses miles away. 

Village Justice Carl Irace instructed the pop star, appearing in court virtually from Belgium, to turn his camera on for his arraignment redo.

The driver stayed at the scene with the man who he hit, who had "stumbled off of a grassy, sloped shoulder" and into the roadway, according to a report.

A resident of Beach Lane in Wainscott reported his Paris Bistro tables and chairs, together valued at $1,200, missing after he used them to set up a lemonade stand for his daughter on the morning of July 14.

East Hampton Town on Tuesday announced that it has replaced an old, outdated Marine Patrol boat with a stateof-the-art vessel. Everything about it is new, except for its name: It is named in memory of the late Sgt. Ryan P. Lynch, a town police officer who died in 2005.

Christopher Cinque, the chief lifeguard for East Hampton Town's Montauk district, has been named the New York State Lifeguard of the Year. 

Ed Burke Jr., the attorney representing the pop star Justin Timberlake on his June 18 drunken-driving charge in Sag Harbor Village Justice Court, argued Friday morning before Justice Carl Irace that the case should be dismissed on the grounds that police had erred when processing the arrest paperwork.

An East Hampton man was arrested on the morning of July 16 on a felony charge of violating an order of protection following a domestic incident at a house on Central Avenue.

The Hampton Lifeguard Association honored Tom Field, a CPR and first-aid instructor for 40 years, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. for getting the state to recognize Jet Skis as rescue equipment , and Tom Casse, a surf instructor and trained lifeguard who made a dramatic nighttime save in Montauk in 2022.

A 75-year-old East Hampton was traveling west through Amagansett in a red Ford Escape on the evening of June 16 when a black sedan lost control and swerved into oncoming traffic, spinning 180 degrees and then striking his car and another.

Southampton Town police detectives and the Sag Harbor Village fire marshal are still investigating the drowning death of a 2-year-old boy at a house on North Haven two weeks ago, an incident that prompted the North Haven mayor to remind village residents about New York State’s swimming pool rules over the weekend.

Just over a year after she first filed a formal complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights, Officer Andrea M. Kess of the East Hampton Town Police Department has made new allegations that she has been the target of retaliation for stating her case.

A postal worker was driving along her Oyster Pond Lane mail route with the windows rolled down on the afternoon of July 15, when, she told police, a man watering his lawn “decided to turn the hose at her,” splashing her in the face. Officers arrived quickly, and informed the man that he could be charged with harassment. This time, though, they simply documented the incident and let him off with a warning.

East Hampton Village police made two felony arrests last week, one involving alleged drug possession, the other driving while intoxicated.