Fishy Business in Montauk

The owner of a Dodge pickup truck found its engine compartment full of malodorous fish recently. The discovery followed an incident in which he had destroyed two cartons of his own catch by running them over in a restaurant parking lot a day earlier.

Charles Morici told East Hampton Town police that the owner of the Shagwong Restaurant, Jimmy Hewitt, had asked him to bring a load of fish to the Main Street, Montauk, eatery. When he arrived at the back parking lot on the night of Nov. 16, he said, he was told the fish were no longer needed.

As he was driving out of the lot, Mr. Morici told police, both cartons of fish fell out of the back of his pickup. Furious, he ran the cartons over several times, leaving a slippery mess in the lot, and drove off.

The next afternoon he returned to the dock after a day of fishing to find the engine compartment of his unlocked truck stuffed full of fish. He went back to Shagwong and confronted Mr. Hewitt, who told police he knew nothing of the fate of the fish but confirmed that he had declined to buy Mr. Morici's catch the day before.

Police photographed the engine compartment. Mr. Morici said he would clean it himself, and no charges were filed.