Update: Police Charge Driver in Hit-and-Run at Historic Graveyard

Update, 4:35 p.m.: East Hampton Village police announced the arrest of an East Hampton man who turned himself in Tuesday afternoon on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident in which there was physical damage.

Police said Luis M. Pacho-Mejia, 37, was the driver of a 2001 Nissan Xterra that plowed through the fence at North End Cemetery, badly damaging 12 historic gravestones. Mr. Pacho-Mejia reportedly told police he fell asleep behind the wheel at about 3 a.m. Sunday.

Accompanied by his lawyer, Sandra Melendez, he was charged and then released. He will be arraigned in East Hampton Town Justice Court at a future date.

Originally, 1:33 p.m.: Twelve headstones in East Hampton Village's historic North End Cemetery, some of them hundreds of years old, were damaged by a hit-and-run driver Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

Village Police Chief Gerard Larsen said Tuesday that the driver of a gray 2001 Nissan Xterra was heading east on Montauk Highway, not far from the CVS pharmacy, when the vehicle left the roadway, hopped the curb, passed the windmill, and plowed into the cemetery.

"We have pieces of the car left at the scene," Chief Larsen said. Police have asked the public to help identify the driver. They were able to identify the make, model, and color of the vehicle from the debris left behind.

It won't be hard to spot, the chief said. "The grill is smashed out, and the right-side quarter panel was left behind in the graveyard."

The driver then backed out of the cemetery and onto Methodist Lane before making an illegal left turn and heading north toward Springs on the one-way street.

Some of the gravestones are very badly damaged, Chief Larsen said.

Anyone with further information has been asked to call 631-324-0777.