One person involved in a brawl on Folkstone Drive in Springs on the Fourth of July pulled out a machete, according to an East Hampton Town police report.
Police were called to the fight, involving “multiple subjects,” at about 10:10 a.m., and found several men on the beach, two of whom appeared to have been in an altercation. One of the two identified himself as the foreman at a job site on the water, and said that two of his employees had been fighting with two subcontractors and another person, who thought his workers, both of them from Riverhead, had gotten paint on their vehicle. The foreman said he’d tried to break up the fight. One man drove off in a red van, while the other left in a dark gray four-door Honda.
One of his employees had minor bruises to his cheek and lip. Another said he had been punched and kicked several times by the two men, and he had abrasions on his left eye and knee. A witness told police all four men had been kicking and punching one another.
Police went to Quarty Circle in East Hampton and found a man inside a red van, parked in the driveway. He told a slightly different story — that one of the men he’d fought with had retrieved a machete from his truck during the altercation. His co-worker was able to tackle the machete away from the man and throw it into the water, he said. Police said he had no visible signs of injuries.
Officers were able to track down the fourth man on Neck Path in Springs, the nephew of the man whose vehicle had paint on it. He admitted to throwing punches and was also punched and kicked, and he too said he saw a man brandishing a machete. When someone was able to grab it and throw it into the water, he said, he ran away. Police noted he had bruises on his right hand, right knee, left elbow, and right eye.
The men were taken back to Folkstone Drive so police could ascertain the approximate location of the machete, about 20 to 30 yards from shore. The machete was not found.
None of the men involved were willing to press charges, police said. They were all advised to stay away from each other.