Police & Courts

When Robert J. (R.J.) Capozzola, a paid paramedic with East Hampton Village, helped save a woman who was choking on a piece of steak at the Palm restaurant on Aug. 7, he said he wasn’t thinking about much, just doing his job.

Historically, an idea stretching through the English common law system to ancient times maintains that criminal court is a public forum. But virtual court — a change introduced during the pandemic — has stuck around, altering court proceedings and increasing the efficiency of local courthouses.

An East Hampton man told village police he was looking down at his phone last Friday afternoon when his 2016 Chevrolet pickup truck ran into a 2018 Tesla at the intersection of Pantigo and Accabonac Roads.

A 34-year-old homeless man accused of kidnapping and robbing three young East Hampton men at knifepoint on Sept. 3 pleaded not guilty to five felony charges at his arraignment before Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei on Wednesday.

Acting East Hampton Village Chief of Police Jeffrey J. Erickson has passed the Civil Service police chief exam, and will be officially promoted to the rank of chief when the village board meets on Oct. 18. He will become the ninth police chief in the history of the East Hampton Village Police Department.

After a man exposed himself in front of two women whom he’d been hanging out with near the Montauk 7-Eleven store on the morning of Sept. 7, they called the police. He ran off.

Two local women received threatening emails from an unknown sender on the afternoon of Sept. 4, with photos of their homes attached, demanding that $2,000 be sent to a Bitcoin code.

The pop star Justin Timberlake pleaded guilty to an amended charge of driving with an impaired ability, a violation, in an appearance Friday morning in Sag Harbor Village Justice Court stemming from his June 18 drunken-driving charge.

A car flipped over on Montauk Highway near Stephen Hand’s Path in East Hampton on Sept. 3, following a collision that resulted in multiple hospitalizations. The driver told police the sun's glare blinded her.

The Bridgehampton man charged with illegally carrying a loaded Glock and two high-capacity magazines on Main Street in East Hampton Village pleaded not guilty before Suffolk County Justice Richard Ambro on Thursday.

East Hampton Village police responded Sunday afternoon to Herrick Park, where a man had been reported “inhaling cleaning products.” He told an officer he wasn’t “huffing,” just blowing sand out of his phone.

East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo has urged town residents to “be mindful of basic crime prevention practices, such as locking cars and front doors at night, paying attention to surroundings, and promptly reporting suspicious activity,” following a string of apparently unrelated crimes.

Round trip, an ambulance ride from Springs to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital takes between two and three hours, depending on the circumstances. From Montauk, it takes a minimum of three hours. So say two of the ambulance drivers who make these trips regularly, who know "every bump" in the road along the way.

An East Hampton man was hospitalized following a collision with a 2023 Chevrolet while cycling north on King Street in the village on the morning of Aug. 16.

A Bridgehampton man was arrested on charges of illegal firearms possession on Saturday night following a traffic stop on East Hampton Main Street shortly after 8. 

An East Hampton Town justice sent a homeless man to Suffolk County jail without bail Thursday following the man's arrest on eight combined charges of robbery, attempted robbery, and kidnapping. Police allege that on Tuesday evening he approached three people — all male East Hampton residents, one of them a juvenile — in a parking lot on Springs-Fireplace Road, where he held a knife to the throat of one victim, demanded money, and "ordered" them to drive to an A.T.M.

A man walked into the Romany Kramoris Gallery in Sag Harbor on Sunday night and pulled the fire alarm, which sprayed multiple pieces of art valued at about $10,000 in all. While no cameras caught the incident, the gallery requested that detectives conduct an investigation.

One man's Mercedes was said to contain a hidden compartment with 50 glassine envelopes of cocaine, and the D.A. said police found over 1,000 individual baggies of cocaine, 589 grams of cocaine, 269 grams of ecstasy, and $19,046 in cash in the Springs house where the man lived when he was arrested on Aug. 2.

The Southampton Town Police Department is seeking the public's help in finding a 30-year-old Southampton man whose family has been unable to locate or contact him since Aug. 22.

A North Carolina man was arrested on a charge of damaging private property, a class-E felony, after an incident at Ruschmeyer’s in Montauk early Saturday morning.

A red-and-black lawn mower said to have cost $15,000 was reported stolen from outside Love Adorned, in Amagansett Square, on the morning of Aug. 20. The mower left tire tracks in the grass leading toward the exit.

The East Hampton Town Police Department received nine calls about pesticide peddlers in Montauk, Springs, Northwest Harbor, and Wainscott between Aug. 21 and Aug. 23.

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.