Police & Courts

Several people were injured in a collision in Springs between an S.U.V. and a Jeep last week, and George Watson of the Dock bar and grill was injured while riding his bicycle in Montauk.

He’d seen people on Town Pond and was concerned, a village resident told police on Dec. 16. An officer responded to see several men skating and playing ice hockey. No action was necessary.

While there is still no official cause in a summertime death of a woman at the Montauk Yacht Club, a search for answers through the media has revealed new details, including from the man who was on the boat with her that night.

A plaque installed outside Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s Emergency Medical Technician room last week officially dedicates the space to the late Randy Hoffman of East Hampton, a critical-care E.M.T. who worked with fire and ambulance departments across the South Fork and was credited with saving at least two lives during his long tenure as a first responder.

Responding Sunday night to a noise complaint from Wainscott Hollow Road, an officer heard loud music from a house and knocked on the door. The woman who answered said they were having a Christmas party.

East Hampton Village is now home to 14 Flock license plate reader surveillance cameras, which amounts to one for every 108 full-time residents, if you go by the 2020 census data. They're heralded by local police for aiding in enforcement and investigations, but they use a technology that has proven controversial nationally with those concerned about civil liberties.

An East Hampton man was charged with a felony last week, accused of violating an active order of protection.

Two automobile accidents on Montauk Highway, one in Wainscott and another in Amagansett, resulted in injuries last week, as did a third in Springs.

A security guard at Pierson High School in Sag Harbor reported a “suspicious male” wearing a face mask and “riding a bicycle in circles” near the school gym. The young man subsequently told police he was waiting for his friends to get out of school, and said he was wearing a mask “because it’s cold outside today.”

The East Hampton Town Police Department says it is ready to take on dispatch responsibilities starting in January when it assumes responsibilities from East Hampton Village and becomes the primary Public Safety Answering Point, or P.S.A.P., in the town.

A 70-year-old man from the Bronx was seriously injured in an e-bike accident in Montauk late Tuesday afternoon.

A caller reported a “suspicious package” near the westbound Jitney Stop on Main Street in the village Saturday, describing it as a suitcase next to a garbage can. When police arrived, an 89-year-old woman standing next to the suitcase informed them that it was hers.

Carl Irace, a Sag Harbor Village justice and a private attorney in East Hampton, plans to petition the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of a Staten Island man who is now serving 40 years in prison for distributing drugs in 2017.

A couple flagged down an officer on Jermain Avenue in Sag Harbor late Sunday morning to report that their son had taken their car without permission and has been “using marijuana.”

Two S.U.V.s collided at the intersection of Stephen Hand’s Path and Route 114 on Nov. 24, and a pedestrian was struck in Sag Harbor the next day.

A homeless 22-year-old was arrested last week in Montauk, accused of stealing a package of wipes from the Montauk I.G.A. after having been being notified the week before that he was no longer allowed on the premises.

Police reported only one accident on local roads recently that resulted in an injury, which happened on Nov. 11 in Montauk, after midnight.

A Barry Lane, Springs, man told police that someone claiming to be from Amazon had called him in regard to a $996 charge on his account for an iPhone 16. When he said he didn’t have an Amazon account, he was transferred to someone who identified himself as a Social Security employee, accused him of money laundering, and told him to expect a call from Nassau County police.

“No one wants to get out of bed, having just climbed in. And it’s a really cold night, and it’s windy, and everything else — but you know that everyone else will be feeling the same, and so you go anyway. Everyone jumps in their cars and drives there, and then you deal with whatever is going on.”

“You could actually hear the screams through town,” said a business owner and Amagansett Fire Department volunteer who was one of the first to come to the aid of the injured woman.

A 76-year-old Montauk man was sentenced to five days in county jail, followed by three years of probation, for spray-painting swastikas and antisemitic phrases around the hamlet in late 2023. 

“A bald man with a briefcase” walked through his property on Friday afternoon, a Sag Harbor resident told police. The man showed up on his doorbell camera, said the homeowner, walking across the front lawn and then out of frame toward his backyard gate.

Two pedestrians were injured in a low-speed collision outside Bay Street Theater on Saturday night. 

Update: A female pedestrian was seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident on Main Street in Amagansett Friday afternoon. The subsequent investigation closed the road for hours. 

Responding Friday night to a report of a structure fire on Further Lane, an officer spoke with the homeowner, who explained that he’d left a piece of pie in the microwave for too long.

A Nissan sedan collided with a Range Rover on Amagansett’s Main Street, and in Springs it was a BMW and a Buick.

An “older white man wearing a green hoodie and jeans” was wandering around his backyard, an Abraham’s Path resident reported Saturday. While an officer was en route, the resident called back to say that the man was a gardener.

Erosion following heavy rain led to the closure of both westbound lanes of Sunrise Highway in the vicinity of the Shinnecock Canal late Friday morning. Westbound traffic over the bridge is restricted to the left roadside shoulder only, causing extremely long delays for travelers.

Rigged, illegal, and high-stakes poker games have been held in recent years in various locales, including East Hampton, according to a federal indictment filed on Oct. 9. 

With two months to go until the East Hampton Town Police Department takes over the lion’s share of emergency dispatching responsibilities from East Hampton Village, questions linger about the cost of the transition and how the town department will handle the new workload.