Sweep Targeted D.W.I.s

This week on the roads saw alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents, felony arrests, and dangerously high blood-alcohol readings.

A STOP sweep (Special Traffic Options Program), run out of Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota’s office, brought in police from departments across the county overnight Saturday to focus on stopping drunken drivers, resulting in several arrests. One of those arrested was stopped not by police, but by the rear end of a 2014 BMW.

 Carlos Julian Ramirez, 49, of East Hampton, who plowed his 2005 Dodge pickup truck into the BMW on Montauk Highway near Windmill Lane in Amagansett just before midnight Saturday, according to East Hampton Town police, was charged at the felony level with aggravated driving while intoxicated. He has a  previous D.W.I. conviction, in 2006.

Police said Mr. Ramirez was “unsure” of what had happened before the crash. At headquarters in Wainscott, his blood-alcohol level was recorded at 0.30, an unusually high number. Any reading over 0.18 leads to an aggravated charge.

In addition to the D.W.I. charge, Mr. Ramirez faces another felony count, driving with a suspended license. In East Hampton Town Justice Court the next morning, Justice Steven Tekulsky set bail at $7,500 and asked the defendant if he would be posting it. Mr. Ramirez, who told the court he was a carpenter, said he could not. He has been held in county jail since then, but will be released tomorrow if no grand jury indictment is handed down by then.

The 0.30 reading was not the highest of the week. Laurie M. Edwards of East Hampton, 46, an off-duty cab driver, was pulled over on Three Mile Harbor Road in Springs in the early afternoon of July 21, after swerving repeatedly into the oncoming lane. Her reading of 0.33 was so high, town police said, that she was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure. With no prior convictions, she was charged at the misdemeanor level, and was released without bail in consideration of her ties to the community.

Anthony W. Curren of Barnegat, Fla., was also taken to the hospital, at a little after midnight Friday, after losing control of a 2014 Honda on Springy Banks Road, East Hampton. The car flipped over; police listed it as “demolished.” Mr. Curren, 26, who told an officer he had swerved to avoid hitting a deer, will be arraigned at a future date.

Another man charged with felony drunken driving was Scott D. Shulman. He was pulled over on Flamingo Avenue in Montauk early Sunday morning by a Sag Harbor officer who was there as part of the anti-D.W.I. sweep. Back at headquarters, Mr. Shulman refused to take the breath test. He reportedly told the arresting officer that he was coming from the Surf Lodge, and that “I have priors. I’m toast.”

In court later that morning, he told Justice Tekulsky he was a share-house manager in Montauk. Bail was set at $7,500. He spent Sunday in the county jail before bail was posted Monday. Mr. Shulman’s share-house activities are reported elsewhere in this issue.

Another man who refused to take the breath test was Alan S. Goudiss, 53, who was stopped by East Hampton Village police on Newtown Lane on Sunday evening. Mr. Goudiss, a partner at Shearman & Sterling, a Manhattan law firm, was unsteady on his feet when he got out of his 2014 Mercedes Benz, police said. “Officer had to help him from falling into oncoming traffic,” the report reads. His bail amount was $250, which was posted.

An Amagansett resident, Luke Weinstock, 38, driving a 2007 Nissan, was pulled over in that hamlet on Sunday morning by a Southampton Town officer who was participating in the sweep. Mr. Weinstock refused to take the breath test, reportedly telling police that “I’m not sure of my rights. The last time I got arrested, they messed with me.”

Kevin J. Ochel of Bridgehampton, 46, was headed west on Old Montauk Highway in a 2006 Porsche when he was pulled over early Saturday morning. Police said he ran a stop sign at Second House Road, doing 52 miles per hour in a 30 m.p.h. zone. Mr. Ochel, who joined the weekend’s parade of defendants who refused to take the breath test, was released without bail.

Raymond Buonanno, who turned 59 on Friday, was arrested Monday and is facing an aggravated charge of misdemeanor D.W.I. due to a reported blood-alcohol level of 0.21. Police said they found Mr. Buonanno asleep behind the wheel of his 2005 Porsche, engine on, foot on the brake, just outside his house on Argyle Lane in Springs. Mr. Buonanno, a commercial photographer who also lives in Manhattan, has been in East Hampton for over 20 years, he told the court during his arraignment Monday. He was released without bail.

Eduardo Fontan-Besey, 46, of Brooklyn, who told the court he was a restaurant manager, was arrested early Saturday after being stopped by a New York State trooper. His bail of $500 was posted for him by friends who were in the courtroom for his arraignment.

Two men arrested during the sweep early Sunday had relatively low blood-alcohol levels. One was Nathaniel Dent, 37, of Bridgehampton, who was stopped by a Riverhead officer on Springs-Fireplace Road in Springs early Sunday after allegedly failing to dim the headlights of his 2003 Dodge for oncoming traffic. His number was 0.13. He was released without bail.

The other man, Kenneth Straker, 32, of Wantagh, arrested by a Westhampton Beach officer early Sunday in Montauk, had the unlucky reading of 0.08, the exact number that triggers a D.W.I. charge. He, too, was freed without bail.

Judian T.L. Cooney of Sag Harbor was pulled over on her 60th birthday, just before midnight Friday, near the five-corners roundabout of Route 114. East Hampton Village police said she was speeding and tailgating. A travel consultant, her blood-alcohol level was reported at 0.15.

“I have ties in the community, and I ask that this not be published,” she said during her arraignment Saturday. Justice Tekulsky explained that everything said and done in court was a matter of public record, and said her name would likely appear in the news.