Police & Courts

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

The Village of Sag Harbor and its police chief, Austin J. McGuire, have signed a separation agreement that allows Mr. McGuire to retire on Friday, March 29, despite his efforts to remain in the post.

Police were called Friday afternoon to investigate a report that people were camping illegally in the Grace Estate Preserve. They came upon three men from Nassau County who’d put up a tent and built a campfire. Police told them to put out the fire, then issued a ticket for open burning and directed them to leave immediately.

A 29-year-old East Hampton woman went to police headquarters on March 4 to report being the victim of sexual assault, stemming from an incident on Feb. 23 at a house in town.

A 28-year-old Amagansett woman was arrested Friday afternoon on felony charges of larceny, stemming from a Feb. 15 incident at the M&T Bank branch on Newtown Lane in East Hampton Village.

The New York State Assembly is considering the Deadly Driving Bill, which would change the definition of “drug” in state law to include “any substance or combination of substances that impair, to any extent, physical or mental abilities,” making it easier to prosecute drug-related driving violations. Right now, if police cannot ascertain just what substance is involved, they may not be able to make an arrest in the first place.

On Feb. 26, a few minutes before midnight, an officer patrolling Sag Harbor's Long Wharf discovered that a car had smashed into a wooden guardrail. Surveillance camera footage revealed that the damage was caused by a driver who, the very next day but in an unrelated incident, was charged with driving while intoxicated.

Scott Frankenbach, a Sag Harbor Village police officer, was named the village’s Officer of the Year. “He’s been an asset to us ever since he was hired,” said Lt. Robert Drake.

A woman using her backyard hot tub on Hand’s Creek Road was accused by a neighbor Sunday morning of being naked outdoors. When police arrived to investigate the report of a “nude person,” the woman answered the door wearing a bathing suit and towel. “No police action necessary,” the officer concluded.

A 16-year-old girl from Massachusetts accidentally hit the gas pedal too hard while making a three-point turn on South Essex Street near South Etna Avenue in Montauk on Feb. 20, causing her minivan to crash through a split-rail fence, drop off an eight-foot ledge, and land upside down.

Two men were charged with felony drunken driving over the last two weeks, one in Amagansett and the other in Sag Harbor.

“Artistic vandalism.” That’s how a police officer initially described the carved tree trunk he found late Saturday night in the parking lot of Amagansett’s Big Albert’s Beach, while patrolling the area for illegal dumping, which has been a problem for police lately.

Five cars were ticketed on the evening of Feb. 14 for parking illegally on Church Street near Buell Lane, in the vicinity of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton Village, following a complaint from a nearby resident. There was an Ash Wednesday service taking place at the time.

East Hampton's Officer of the Year award is given in memory of Sgt. Ryan P. Lynch, who died of cancer in 2005 after serving on the town force for 10 years. For 2023, the honoree is Officer William Hamilton.

Driving while intoxicated, usually a misdemeanor, is elevated to a felony charge when a child is in the vehicle at the time, under New York State's Leandra's Law.

On Saturday, police and firefighters were notified of a “liquid spill” and shattered glass in front of the Empire Gas Station on North Main Street. It turned out that a delivery truck driver had lost “an entire case of Corona beers, which shattered into the roadway.” The driver cleaned up the mess himself.

A Bridgehampton man was charged with two first-degree felonies, “criminal sex act by forcible compulsion” and criminal contempt, following an incident at a house on Accabonac Road in East Hampton.

A 20-year-old East Hampton man has pleaded guilty to raping an 11-year-old girl eight times between December 2021 and January 2022, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney announced Wednesday.

Christopher Hansen, a detective in the East Hampton Village Police Department, was selected as police officer of the year, at the Jan. 26 Southampton Town Kiwanis Club’s Annual Police Officer of the Year banquet.

An East Quogue man turned himself in to the East Hampton Village Police Department on Jan. 31 after allegedly violating a court-issued order of protection.

A building on Lake Montauk with four cottage-style apartments went up in flames on Monday morning, bringing out crews from three fire departments that worked for about two and a half hours to put out the blaze at the East Lake Drive property.

A passer-by who gave her name only as Sophie reported Friday afternoon that “two Black men were smoking weed in front of Murf’s Tavern” in Sag Harbor. Officers dismissed the call: It is no longer illegal in New York State for adults to smoke marijuana.

A woman out for a walk found the body of a Middle Island man in front of a house on Industrial Road near Navy Road in Montauk on the morning of Jan. 21, East Hampton Town police said this week.

On Jan. 8, someone called the Suffolk County CrimeStoppers line alleging the “illegal dumping of records” off the trustee road at Barcelona Point. An officer went to investigate that afternoon, but “was unable to check all of the access roads in the area before it got too dark,” according to the report.