A woman from Nova Scotia hit an electric utility pole on Route 114 at about 5:20 a.m. on Saturday, closing a portion of the main thoroughfare between Sag Harbor and East Hampton for nearly 12 hours. East Hampton Town police later charged the woman, Stephanie L. Baker, a 27-year-old from Pleasantville in the Canadian province, with drunken driving.
Ms. Baker was southbound in a 2009 Honda sedan when the accident happened, near Swamp Road, in a bend on 114. According to police, the Honda hit a utility pole on the west side of the turnpike. The pole came down across the roadway, leaving wires in the road that made it impassable.
The driver had bleeding on her leg and complained of chest pain, but was not taken to the hospital. However, her passenger, Aaron M. Avant, 21, complained of neck pain, and the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps transported him to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.
Police said Ms. Baker appeared intoxicated and performed poorly on all field sobriety tests. In addition to the misdemeanor drunken-driving charge, she was cited for a traffic violation.
According to Carl Irace, an East Hampton attorney who represented her at arraignment in East Hampton Town Justice Court later that morning, police recorded her blood-alcohol concentration at .08, the minimum level that brings on the charge. Justice Lisa R. Rana suspended Ms. Baker’s driving privileges in New York State, though Mr. Irace challenged the suspension. “The court doesn’t have authority to suspend her license pending prosecution,” he said, maintaining that the “prompt suspension law” requires the blood-alcohol reading to be in excess of .08, and not at .08. He also noted that his client has spent six seasons working at a summer camp on the East End and needs her license.
Ms. Baker was released on $300 bail. She will be represented at future proceedings by the Legal Aid Society.
On Friday at about 11:25 p.m., a Montauk man was arrested there following a traffic stop. The officer who pulled his 2018 Nissan truck over on Main Street by the Plaza said the truck had failed to yield the right of way to oncoming eastbound traffic. John B. Kanavy, 38, was behind the wheel and appeared intoxicated, police said. He was charged with misdemeanor D.W.I. and held overnight for arraignment, before being released in the morning on his own recognizance.